Blizzard, patriarch of Sacramento Zoo’s popular snow leopard exhibit, relocating — here’s why

The Sacramento Zoo’s male snow leopard, who fathered the first snow leopard cub born in the capital city in more than a decade and graced River Cats baseball jerseys, is leaving the region.

Blizzard, 13, will leave Sacramento later this month because of a “breeding recommendation” under a program called the Species Survival Plan that helps to avoid the extinction of endangered and threatened species.

The global populations of snow leopards has dwindled to about 6,300 due in part to poaching and the loss of their habitats, according to the Snow Leopard Trust.

It was not immediately known where Blizzard would be headed next.

“We encourage everyone to stop by and say goodbye before he embarks on his next adventure,” the Sacramento Zoo said online.

The feline mated with another snow leopard named Misha at Land Park zoo. She gave birth in 2018 to two cubs, one of which passed away after several birth defects. Both babies were the first snow leopards born in the Sacramento Zoo since 2006.

Another cub, named Coconut, survived and was ultimately transferred to West Virginia under the same program that will lead to his father’s relocation.