Amur Leopard

[AOTANI, Masayasu]

Animal experts say one of the world's most beautiful and rare kinds of big cat is close to disappearing from the wild.  A study earlier this year found that only about thirty Amur leopards still live free.  The cats are also called Far Eastern leopards.

 

Recently, their numbers decreased by one.  An unidentified person shot a female Amur, then beat her to death.  The animal's body was discovered last month in the Barsovy National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Russia.

 

An official of the World Wildlife Fund, Darron Collins, said this was the third such killing in the area in the past five years.  Mister Collins said the death of even one adult female is a huge loss for the endangered cat.  He noted that the killing reduces the possibility for cubs, or young.

 

It is not clear how many Amur leopards still live free.  One population count was performed in February and March.  Wildlife expert Dmitry Pikunov supervised this study.  It found evidence of seven to nine males.  The study identified three to seven females without cubs.  Four leopards were identified as females with cubs.  In all, five or six cubs were recorded.  Six to eight animals could not be identified.

 

Researchers counted the Amur leopards by following the marks of their feet in the snow.  The study involved thirty-five workers from three organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund.  The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Pacific Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Science also took part.

 

Counts performed seven years ago and three years ago showed higher leopard totals.  Officials say about one hundred of the animals are needed for survival.

 

Most of the land where the Amur leopard once lived was in China.  New roads and climate change there threatened the animals.  So did hunters who kill big cats for their body parts.

 

The surviving cats live in southwest Primorye.  That area is near the border between Russia, China and North Korea.

 

The director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Russia program organized an earlier count of Amurs.  Dale Miquelle says the leopards should be counted in more modern ways.  This would include use of radio, camera traps, and genetic testing.

 

Mister Pikunov says adult Amurs need about five hundred square kilometers with good forests to survive.  He said they also need a large and continuing supply of animals like deer for food.  He believes the answer to saving the Amur leopard is for governments to provide protected spaces for wildlife.

 

About three hundred Amur leopards live in zoos around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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