Rare leopards released into Russian reserve threatened by a ski resort

Three endangered Persian leopard cubs are intended to reintroduce the species to the Sochi area but new plans for a ski trail put the future of the reserve and the animals at risk

Arthur Neslen

Friday 15 July 201616.54 BSTLast modified on Friday 15 July 201622.00 BST

Three Persian leopard cubs have been released into the Sochi area of Russia’s western Caucasus, a day after Unesco threatened to deem the area a “world heritage site in danger” because of a planned ski resort expansion.

Persian leopards once prowled across the Caucasus mountains in great numbers but poaching, poisoning and human encroachment wiped out the species inRussia, in the early 20th century.

The new reintroduction plan was intended to lay the foundation for a new population of the charismatic big cats, which are now thought to number less than 500 across central Asia.

But conservationists say that a recent vote in the Russian parliament to weaken environmental protections, and allow new ski trail constructions in Sochi, will cut off a vital corridor to Turkmenistan for the free-roaming animals.

Igor Chestin, the CEO of WWF Russia said: “We had hoped to release these very special leopards into a secure environment. Instead they will enter the unknown. The future of the western Caucasus is hanging in the balance.”

At a conference in Istanbul on Thursday, the world conservation body, Unesco, warned that the Russian parliament’s vote could have “negative impacts” on the Persian leopards’ reintroduction.

Construction of large scale infrastructure on the site could lead to its being placed on the list of world heritage sites in danger, the committee agreed. But it declined to do so immediately, despite pleas from conservationists.

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Saving Armenia’s leopard wins £25,000 grant

The World Land Trust’s project, Saving Armenia’s Leopard- has won a grant of £25,000 from National Geographic Germany. In an online poll organised by the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) during the second half of March 2014, more than 52,000 votes were cast for 17 conservation projects all vying for funding.

WLT’s conservation partner in Armenia, Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) will use the grant (approximately £25,000) to preserve habitat for the endangered caucasian leopard. 

This sub species of leopard is registered as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and has a total population of no more than 1,300. The caucasian leopard’s stronghold is in Iran, where it is known as the Persian Leopard, but in Armenia there may be as few as 15 individuals remaining.

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Persian leopard conservation in Iran

Research of conflict between villagers and leopards is vital in Iran for improved conservation

Courtesy of Igor Khorozyan, PhD, Department of Conservation Biology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany. 

June 2013. The Persian leopard is a globally endangered big cat that survives mainly in Iran. There are an estimated 500-850 leopards left in Iran, and Golestan National Park, located in north-eastern Iran, is an important habitat for Persian leopards.

The largest population of this highly elusive predator, estimated through camera-trapping as 23-42 individuals or 2.63 individuals/100 km2, is documented in Golestan National Park. This protected area covers 874 km2 and is comprised of lush humid forests in the west, dry grasslands in the centre and east, and parched semi-deserts in the south.

High mortality

Being apparently healthy, the local leopard population still suffers from high mortality caused by conflicts with people living in villages around Golestan and occasional kills on the Asian highway that bisects the park in the south.

In early 2013, a project was launched by a team from University of Göttingen (Germany), in cooperation with Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (Iran) with the financial support of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (UAE) to survey local villages, to understand the scale and pattern of human-leopard conflict and to reveal trends in local knowledge and attitudes.

Conflicts are more widespread than previously thought - leopards and wolves

After surveys in all 34 villages around Golestan were finished, it became evident that leopard attacks on domestic animals are confined mostly to the western part of the park covered by dense forests. In grasslands and semi-deserts, the dominant and trouble-making predator is the wolf, but two villages still reported leopard issues. Dogs and 1-2 year-old cattle are most frequently taken. Shepherd dogs are widely used to patrol grazing livestock, but they are only seldom properly trained and so they often provoke leopards into attacks instead of repelling them. In leopards eyes, a dog is as tasty as a calf.

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Old leopard still roaming Iran

Leopard was first seen in 2004

February 2013. Recent camera trapping in central Iran indicates that an old Persian leopard roams in Bafq Protected Area; the cat is estimated to be at least 12 to 14 years. This adult male was first recorded by camera traps in late 2004, and he was a prime individual at that time. Later, he was photo-trapped regularly and he was the main star in occasional encounters with game wardens and visitors, based on spot patterns comparison. In 2007, he was equipped with GPS collar for six months by CACP, WCS and Panthera, which revealed that he covered most of this 850 square kilometre reserve.
 

In 2012, the animal was still a dominant male who ranged across most of the reserve, indicating that he is the oldest ever identified Persian leopard in the wild. Large cats normally live no longer than 10 years in the wild, despite their significantly longer lifespan in captivity (sometimes up-to 25 years). Bafq Protected Area which is one of the main hotspots for the Persian leopard in central Iran, is threatened by a proposed road which is planned to pass through the heart of the area.

Read more about the work of The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) 

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/bafq-leopard-photos.html

Persian leopard photographed in Afghanistan

Camera trap images tell a story of the survival of Afghanistan's rugged wildlife and continued threats to many species
December 2011. Recent camera trap images from the rocky terrain of Afghanistan's central highlands have revealed a surprise: a Persian leopard, an apex predator long thought to have disappeared from the region, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.

In a series of images that provides indisputable proof that the big cat persists in the country's interior, a big adult leopard can be seen prowling around the camera trap's field of view and investigating the camera itself, appearing to threaten it with canines exposed.

Lynx, wild cat & wolf
The camera traps captured dozens of images of other wildlife species, including lynx, wild cat, wolf, red fox, and stone marten, an impressive suite of predators still surviving in the Hindu Kush highlands, where Wildlife Conservation Society scientists and Afghan rangers have been conducting surveys in recent months.

"To see such a varied array of wildlife after we have endured so much conflict gives us hope for Afghanistan's future," said Mostapha Zaher, Director General of Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency. "Intact ecosystems represent a foundation for our country's reconstruction and development. This is also our heritage, our natural resources, our fauna and flora. It is incumbent upon all of us to conserve and protect our environment and hand it over to the next generation of the citizens of Afghanistan."
Camera traps give conservationists a valuable research tool in remote wildlife areas. In addition to providing a cross-section of an ecosystem in terms of the presence and absence of wildlife, the devices record data that, in sufficient quantities and placement, can be used to generate population estimates for individual species.

Read more here ...