Ilbirs Station
The Ilbirs Station (Iradi ilbirs, "snow leopard") is a small research and rehabilitation station for the snow leopard at Uuk-Bulak, a foothill village on the Chatkal road in Sary-Bulak District of the Irad Special Economic Zone. It is run by the Faculty of Biology and Chemistry of Talas State University with veterinarians from the Talas Veterinary Research Center, and is headed by the zoologist Dr Aizhan Torobekova. It opened on 23 October 2026, with a representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources present.[1]
The station has a few quarantine and recovery enclosures and a field laboratory. It treats injured and orphaned animals brought down from the mountains and studies the snow leopards of the Chatkal Highlands and the Talas Alatau with camera traps and tracking. Animals fit for release are to be returned to the tribal Chatkal hills, where the Chatkal Snow Leopard Sanctuary lies, only with the agreement of the clan councils concerned. Herders attended the opening: some welcomed a place to hand in injured animals, while others said that livestock losses on the high pastures mattered more. The station describes itself as a research unit rather than a zoo and is not open to visitors.[1]
References
- ^ IradOne (26 October 2026). 'Ilbirs Station Opens at Uuk-Bulak to Study and Treat Irad's Snow Leopards.' Talas. Retrieved 28 October 2026.