Santa Barbara Zoo hosts annual “Snow Leopard Festival”

Santa Barbara County, Calif. -- It may be a sunny day in Santa Barbara, but it's a frosty winter at the Santa Barbara Zoo on Sunday afternoon as the zoo packs in 80 tons of snow for its annual "Snow Leopard Festival."

Sledding, snow play and other festivities brought community members to the zoo Sunday in celebration of the Kisa the Snow Leopard as well as the species as a whole.

Also referred to as "the grey ghosts of the Himalayas," the Santa Barbara Zoo said the Snow Leopard species is listed as "vulnerable" on the Red List, which was downgraded from "endangered" in 2017.

The zoo said that preservation efforts are paying off, but the species is still at high risk due to habitat loss, diminishing prey, competition with livestock and poaching.

To protect the big snowy cats, the zoo said the Snow Leopard Trust organization strives to protect snow leopards and provide a stable income for people living near the species. For more information on this organization, click here.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, the Santa Barbara Zoo held its annual Snow Leopard Festival, and delivered more snow to Kisa's enclosure.

Kisa, the zoo's elusive snow leopard, arrived in 2019 to Santa Barbara from Hogle Zoo in Utah, according to the zoo.

Her name, Kisa, translates to "kitty" in Russian.

For more on Kisa and the Santa Barbara Zoo, click here to visit the zoo's main website.