How HRH Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud’s Initiative is Raising Awareness About The Endangered Arabian Leopard
Her Royal Highness’ animal conservation foundation, Catmosphere, held a walk on International Day of the Arabian Leopard to raise awareness around the protection of big cats
February 10, 2024, officially marked the first International Arabian Leopard Day to help raise awareness for the critically endangered big cat that was once widely found in the region. Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, is using her voice to spearhead the movement.
In a recent Instagram post, Princess Reema shared a video from Catwalk, an annual, global outdoor walk, designed to raise awareness about our interconnected well-being by highlighting the plight of protecting big cats such as jaguars, cheetahs and lions.
The post’s caption read: “On the world’s first-ever International Day of the Arabian Leopard more than 100,000 people in over 95 countries celebrated with Catwalk through awareness-raising events across 5 continents. The global numbers are still coming in, more soon”.
The initiative was started by Catmosphere, a non-profit organisation Princess Reema founded, focused on big cat conversation.
According to the organisation, all big cats are threatened by habitat loss, and the tiger, lion, leopard, and cheetah have disappeared from between 65 percent and 96 percent of their historic range.
Last year, in a ground breaking move, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution designating February 10 as the International Day of the Arabian Leopard. Princess Reema had expressed her elation at the announcement.
I am so happy to see the UN Draft Resolution on the International Day of the Arabian Leopard approved!
Over the last three years @catmospherenow @RCU_SA & @alf_ngo have worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the Critically Endangered Arabian Leopard & focus international… https://t.co/PTBFneo9Y2
— Reema Bandar Al-Saud (@rbalsaud) June 12, 2023
The Princess is known for using social media to raise awareness around various causes; here are some of the issues she has spoken out about.
Lead image credit: www.rcu.gov.sa/ (Royal Commission for AlUla)