The reclusive Pallas cat is native to Russia and central Asia, but they are very popular with poachers for their fur and are being threatened with extinction. Now the wild cats are getting a chance to up their survival rates by being given a safe zone in Siberia.
Jim Sanderson, the director of the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation spoke out about the move.
“Our peers from Russia are doing a great job monitoring felines. All the world knows that this is where the snow leopard lives and that the park is responsible for its protection. The Pallas’s cat also needs protection.”
The safe zone will be an area in the Sailyugemsky Nature Park of the Altai Mountains, which will protect the cats from poaching as well as help to provide them with enough food to survive.
The cats appear much larger than they are since they have such dense and long fur to keep them warm, but they only weigh in at about ten pounds each. They’re fluffier than house cats, making them the fluffiest cats in the world. They are naturally slow runners but they hunt well by ambushing their prey, and they flourish in high altitudes but don’t do well at lower altitudes or in captivation of any kind.
