Chris, the snow leopard cub born at the zoo in May 2018, has packed his case and is heading for Zurich Zoo in Switzerland, where a prospective partner is waiting for an introduction. While staff were sad to wave Chris off, we're proud to celebrate our role in the European breeding programme for snow leopards - which aims to create a stable healthy population of snow leopards in captivity.

Snow Leopards are listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the red list of most at-risk animals, with fewer than 8,000 estimated remaining in the wild. The zoo has made a big impact since joining the European Breeding Programme (EEP) in 2011, with Chris being the third cub born to the zoo’s resident pair, Tara and Pavan. Daughter Luna, born at the zoo in 2014, has also helped further their survival by producing her own litter in Europe in 2017.

Zoo manager Jack Williams says; “I appreciate how special Chris is to our visitors, he was born around the same time I became zoo manager, so I felt we had a bond! He was even named by children visiting the zoo. It’s a real honour to be part something as important as the captive breeding programme, and we’ll be following his future adventures.”