Helen Freeman, 75; founded trust to help protect snow leopards

Helen Elaine Freeman, 75, known to many as “the Jane Goodall of snow leopards” for her advocacy on behalf of the increasingly rare central Asian big cats, died Sept. 20 of lung disease.

Her death was announced by the Snow Leopard Trust, which she founded in 1981 after becoming fascinated with two of the creatures at a Seattle zoo.

Freeman traveled to Asia, Europe and around the United States to build support for protecting the endangered cats in their native habitat.

Helen Maniotas, the only child of Greek immigrants, was born in Everett, Wash. She graduated from Washington State University in 1954 and married Stanley Freeman four years later.

Her interest in snow leopards began with Nicholas and Alexandra, obtained from the Soviet Union in 1972, while she was working as a docent at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

Freeman went back to school and earned a degree in animal behavior at the University of Washington, then helped design a program that overcame zoos’ problems in getting snow leopards to breed in captivity. Nicholas and Alexandra produced 29 cubs.