The second annual Arabian Leopard Day 2023 is marked by a week of activities including an international outdoor advertising campaign, an augmented reality Snapchat lens, and in AlUla, an outdoor digital exhibition and a new walking trail
The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) organised a range of activities to mark the second annual Arabian Leopard Day, and inaugurates the first Arabian Leopard Week, from the grassroots to the mountaintops and KSA classrooms to US billboards. Led by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) alongside its conservation partners, the events are geared to increase awareness of the leopards’ plight and build public support for actions to conserve the species.
Arabian Leopard Day is formally celebrated on February 10, but this year’s planned events extend before and after that date to launch the first ever Arabian Leopard Week to allow greater public participation and general awareness of the significance of the day.
The events include:
• An outdoor campaign to spread international awareness – an international outdoor advertising campaign went on live in the UK with a video highlighting the plight of the Arabian Leopard which was live on significant buildings including Piccadilly in London and NASDAQ in New York City
• A new 7-kilometre permanent trail at AlUla’s Sharaan Nature Reserve emphasises the connection between healthy habitats and healthy species. The ‘Arabian Leopard Celebration Trail’ is a collaboration of RCU and the Catmosphere foundation and is intended to be the first of a global network of Catwalk Trails. The AlUla community was invited to visit on February 11 and enjoy the trail’s sandy dunes, gentle escarpments and shaded gulleys
• An augmented-reality (AR) Snapchat Lens wasshowing a simulated Arabian Leopard roaming the spectacular Hegra landmark Tomb of Lihyan Son of Kuza (also known as Qasr Al Farid)
• A digital exhibition was launched in AlUla’s Ashar Valley with projections of the Arabian Leopard being beamed onto the surrounding Hijaz Mountains. The exhibition, a collaboration of RCU and Catmosphere, was open to the public on February 10 and 11
• A series of Deep Dive videos were launched from 10 February onwards, in Arabic and English, providing an overview of the Arabian Leopard and conservation efforts to save the species
• Grassroots initiatives such as a brochure and colouring book for schools in Saudi Arabia were also launched
Dr. Stephen Browne, Wildlife & Natural Heritage Executive Director at RCU, said: “The Arabian Leopard is a formidable symbol of our aim to conserve and safeguard AlUla’s natural environment. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that the Arabian Leopard is Critically Endangered with threats to its natural habitat highlighting the pressing need to step up conservation efforts that are so vital to the species’ long-term survival.”
Arabian Leopard Day 2023 celebrates the birth of four leopard cubs at breeding centre and major rewilding advances in past 22 months
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ranks the Arabian Leopard as Critically Endangered in the wild, a level of risk more severe than Vulnerable or Endangered. If the population continues to decline, the next stages on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species are Extinct in the Wild and, lastly, Extinct.
Safeguarding the future of the Arabian Leopard is an objective closely linked with Saudi pride and identity. As more and more people become aware of the plight of the species and its role in our shared history, support for conservation efforts has grown across the Kingdom.
To prepare for the eventual return of Arabian Leopards to the wild, RCU has released native species of prey animals into vast nature reserves, increased efforts to track and protect wild leopards, and regenerated natural areas managed by teams of RCU-led and trained experts with the goal of restoring a lost yet essential balance to AlUla’s delicate ecosystems. The return of the Arabian Leopard will be the final piece of a sensitive and complicated puzzle.
And there have been successes along the way: RCU’s Arabian Leopard Breeding Programme has welcomed the births of four healthy cubs since April 2021, a major milestone and a welcome contribution to the goal of boosting the population in captivity. The naming of a cub born in 2022 as Amal – ‘hope’ in Arabic – symbolises the rising hopes to protect the future of the species.
The second annual Arabian Leopard Day featured a strong international component, highlighted by an international campaign to spread international awareness of the species’ plight in the UK, US and Saudi Arabia.
London saw billboard projections on Piccadilly, High Street Kensington, Canary Wharf, Westfield London, Westfield Stratford City, Skyline – Westfield Stratford City, The Two Towers, Canary Wharf while New Yorkers saw it on NASDAQ – to mark Arabian Leopard Day.
The campaign is spearheaded by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), which is comprehensively regenerating a vast swathe of north-west Arabia as a leading global destination for cultural and natural heritage. RCU and its conservation partners believe that by raising global awareness they can build support for actions to save the species.