Snow leopard with 'huge' conservation legacy dies
The big cat, known as Tara, was kept at Lakeland Wildlife Oasis (LWO) near Milnthorpe, Cumbria, and was 15 when she died "quietly in her sleep" on Sunday.
Tara "contributed massively to a captive breeding programme", and her DNA was donated to cryogenic preservation charity Nature's Safe to support future conservation.
Dr Richard Francksen, senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Cumbria, said Tara's loss was "very sad", but she left a "huge legacy" through her many offspring living in zoos across Europe.
Tara who had been with her mate Pavan at LWO since 2011, outlived the life expectancy of wild snow leopards.
The spiecies is classified as vulnerable and on the red list of threatened animals due to loss of habitat, climate change, poaching and human-wildlife conflict.
Dr Francksen said snow leopards are native to the mountain ranges of central and south Asia, such as Afghanistan, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau.
They live above 10,000ft (3,000m), though may descend to lower altitudes to find food.
He said captive breeding programmes went hand-in-hand with conservation in the wild and Tara would continue to contribute to those efforts.
"In some ways Tara lives on through the donation of her DNA for preservation for future captive breeding programmes.
"Also, she has many offspring and actually she was a grandparent to many other snow leopards in captive breeding programmes across Europe."
Dr Francksen got to know Tara and Pavan "quite well" when one his students studied them for their dissertation last year.
He said: "The loss of any individual snow leopard is sad, and it's clear to me reading the messages online that Tara brought a lot of joy to a lot of visitors at LWO."
An LWO spokesperson said Pavan was being "closely monitored" and was "doing fine".
They added: "Together they created a major bloodline for the breeding programme and did their bit to save their species from extinction."
LWO said Tara had "touched the lives of many".
"While it hurts to say goodbye, Tara's legacy will live forever.".
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