Snow leopard cubs set to make their debut at Toronto Zoo - Action News
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Snow leopard cubs set to make their debut at Toronto Zoo

Visitors to the Toronto Zoo will be able view a pair of five-month-old snow leopard cubs for the first time starting Saturday.

Visitors will be able to view 5-month-old cubs starting Saturday

Snow leopard cubs make public debut at Toronto Zoo

18 days ago
Duration 0:59
Toronto Zoo members and journalists got a first look at snow leopard cubs Zoya and Minu at their outdoor habitat on Friday. The cubs were born on May 13 but have been living indoors as they received vaccines and staff worked to make their outdoor habitat secure.

Two snow leopard cubs will make their public debut at the Toronto Zoo this weekend.

The zoo says visitors will be able to see Zoya and Minu in their outdoor habitat between about 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The cubs were born on May 13 at the zoo and have been living with their mother Jita since then.

Until now, the cubs lived indoors, as they received vaccines and staff made necessary modifications to make their outdoor habitat safe and secure.

A snow leopard cub is seen crouched on a rock behind a fuzzy out-of-focus patch of greenery. The cub is looking towards the direction of the camera and seems relaxed.
Five-month-old snow leopard Zoya explores the outdoor habitat at the Toronto Zoo in Toronto on Friday, October 25, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

The zoo says it is time for the little ones to spend more time exploring outside as they are growing older. Following their debut this weekend, the cubs will be viewable in the enclosure with their mother on Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, the zoo said in a post on X.

Pemba, the father of the cubs, will be viewable on the other days.

The snow leopard is considered a vulnerable species, and the World Wildlife Fund estimates only 4,000 to 6,500 individuals remain in the wild.

The picture shows a large rock formation next to a wire fence. Two snow leopard cubs peek out from behind a smaller portion of the rock formation, one sitting on top and the other looking out from the right side of the rock.
Saturday will be the first day that the public will get to see five-month-old snow leopards Zoya and Minu in their outdoor habitat at the Toronto Zoo. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Including Zoya and Minu, 16snow leopards have been born at the Toronto Zoo over the years. The majority of those cubs thenmoved to other accredited zoos across North America as part of the snow leopard species survival plan.

"These latest two they're rambunctious, they're really curious, and they're amazing to watch,"Dolf Dejong, CEO of the Toronto Zoo, told CBC News Friday.

The last time the Toronto Zoo welcomed new snow leopard cubs was in 2017, when three cubs were born amid a boom of births that included two clouded leopard cubs and five cheetah cubs.One of the three snow leopard cubs later died of pneumonia.

With files from CBC News