An Illinois zoo is heading a program that breeds snow leopards as part of the Snow Leopard Species Survival Plan, which was created after the leopard population began declining in the 1970s.
Jay Tetzloff of Bloomington's Miller Park Zoo has been leading the charge of the program that breeds snow leopards in nearly 70 North American zoos.
Snow leopards are among three species survival plans that the Bloomington zoo manages.
Miller Park is the only zoo in the U.S. to have snow leopard cubs born in consecutive years.
Tetzloff says there are fewer than 7,000 left in the wild in Central Asia, including the Indian Himalayas.
