Want to save an endangered cat? Drink this vodka

Big cats have been in the news of late for the most unfortunate reasons. But here’s a different story, one that involves an endangered feline and, yes, an enterprising vodka brand.

Snow Leopard Vodka is the brainchild of Stephen Sparrow, a former sports and spirits industry executive who learned of the plight of the leopard — just up to 6,000 are left roaming the planet, according to the World Wildlife Fund — on a visit to Nepal several years ago. He wanted to help protect the species, so he set up a trust and then came up with the idea of creating a vodka as a means to raise money (he was already thinking about starting a vineyard anyhow). As he said in 2010 around the time of the vodka’s launch: “I thought Snow Leopard would make a great name for a super-premium vodka. It’s cold, rare, exotic, powerful.” (And indeed, the leopard, which is native to South and Central Asia, roams some chilly parts of the world.)


more on marketwatch.com