Kolmarden's recent fund-raising strategy is to target a reduced number of programs in order to increase the impact and to establish a long-term and mutual trust with those selected. Our continuous and close contact with “the Gobi cats” and with the SLT crew “on location” has developed into the model of choice for our future direction.

It has been a rewarding Year of the Snow Leopard for Kolmarden and our fundraising  efforts bringing in an all time high of 620,000 visitors contributed significantly to the Foundation.  In addition, a national celebrity talked about snow leopards and SLT’s approach when hosting one of the most popular radio shows. Several production companies are suggesting film projects for Swedish television, as they find it especially fascinating that there is a “Swedish connection”, wildlife ecologist Örjan Johansson, is out there doing the heavy lifting in the  rugged land of Genghis Khan as a research student with SLT. A group of enthusiastic senior high school students  arranged a wonderful charity dinner and raised money for the project, which in turn generated significant   media coverage.  Finally, we were very pleased that SLT staff attended the opening day for Kolmarden on May 1st. The amazing presentation for special guests invited to the gala dinner, and for zoo visitors near the snow leopard exhibit, certainly generated new and highly motivated cat ambassadors in Sweden. SLT funds for 2009 kept growing via SMS, collection boxes and bank transfers and we are selling products from Snow Leopard Enterprises in our gift shops. A total of $19,000 was raised for the SLT Mongolia project in 2009, with another $14,000 scheduled for 2010. And there will be more to come!

Written by Thomas Lind, Animal Coordinator, Kolmarden Zoo