A Supporter’s Journey: Off to Spy a Snow Leopard

Long-time Snow Leopard Trust supporters Elizabeth Brill, Susan Anderson and Chris Sakach are embarking on the journey of a lifetime this fall: a trip to Snow Leopard Research camp in Mongolia's South Gobi desert. Elizabeth has been kind enough to document their experiences for us. This is her first dispatch from Mongolia.

A four-year old cat lover! Photo by the Brill family

When I was four, my parents took me abroad for the first time. We sailed from NYC to London on HMS Rotterdam. On Mom’s birthday, I won a prize in a drawing contest showing off my skill at drawing my favorite creatures, cats.

While my drawing talents have not increased whatsoever, my steadfast love and fascination of felines has grown. I no longer profess, as I did when I was four, that “I hate dogs because they don’t like cats”, but my life is full of kitty-ness.

Elizabeth’s early sketches of cats show a keen eye for their elegance. Photo by Elizabeth Brill

Friends will not be surprised at the extreme to which I’m now taking this obsession. My work is with fire and tropical fish – I am a glass artist and research assistant – but my love of cats large and small is now taking me out of my familiar toasty warm environment. I’ve packed enough clothes to be able to wear seven layers in this legendary desert, where I’m told it will be very windy and chilly. I even brought a hat.

How could you have know, Mom and Dad, what that transatlantic crossing would inspire? The fearsome tiger-illustrating little girl pictured at Stonehenge is off to spy a snow leopard.

3 Comments

  1. Best of luck to you!! I’d love to have gone on this trip, but, well, $$$$$. Hope you get to see a snow leopard!

  2. Wow!!! What a trip!! That would be my dream trip! I would love to do that some day! How do you go about visiting a research site?

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