Maléo and Mayala, two snow leopards, arrived at the EcoZonia park in Cases-de-Pène, near Perpignan

Maléo, une des deux panthères accueillies au parc EcoZonia. COPIE D'ECRAN ECOZONIA

Le parc EcoZonia, ouvert en 2021 à Cases-de-Pène, dans les Pyrénées-Orientales, s'est spécialisé dans l'accueil de prédateurs, dont il veut assurer la conservation.

The writer Sylvain Tesson made his long quest for the animal into a documentary and a book, "The Snow Panther" (ed. Gallimard), which earned him the Renaudot prize five years ago.

EcoZonia, the Pyrénées-Orientales park specializing in the reception and conservation of predators, has been hosting, for several weeks, panthers or snow leopards, these felines which live in the mountains of ;#39;Central Asia. They will operate in a space developed since 2021 at the gates of the Corbières-Fenouillèdes regional natural park, near Perpignan.

"It’is one of the most endangered felines in the world. The population is estimated at only 5,000 individuals. It is still hunted for its fur or for different organs included in the Chinese pharmacopoeia. Nearly 350 individuals are killed each year. EcoZonia wanted to actively participate in the snow leopard conservation program by welcoming a couple", Maléo and Mayala, posted it on its Facebook account.& nbsp;

The park, which is also home to brown bears, European lynx, Siberian polecats, wolverines, black kites… reassures about the ;adaptation of wild animals to life in captivity: the female was "born at the Arcachon zoo", and the couple& nbsp;"arrives from Pal", a zoological park in Allier.

He also specifies that the animals will tolerate the high temperatures of summer without problem: "If the snow leopard is well known for its adaptation to cold, it is much less cold to be able to withstand the strong daytime summer heat of its distribution area (36°C in the shade recorded in August 2023 in Tajikistan and Kyrgystan). At 6,000 m altitude, atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude, which allows the passage of very intense solar radiation. The rocks become hot, even burning, especially as the vegetation is particularly short. They have numerous morphological adaptations to withstand our heat.