Onwards

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Community engagement programs involve local residents in conservation, aiming to reduce human-wildlife conflict and foster coexistence. Scientific research and monitoring help track population numbers, study leopard behavior, and assess the effectiveness of conservation strategies. Some programs are also exploring reintroduction of  captive-bred leopards into historic ranges. The extremely small population size of Amur leopards introduces inherent biological risks that complicate their recovery. This restriction in genetic diversity results in inbreeding, which can weaken the population over generations. Inbreeding depression can manifest as reduced reproductive success and weakened immune systems, making the leopards more susceptible to diseases.
Only 70 Amur leopards are left in the wild. Help us save this magnificent animal.
The Amur leopard once ranged from South Beijing to Korea and even as far north as Vladivostok. Presently Amur leopards continue to inhabit parts of Russia, North Korea and China, however, the species has suffered significant decline and populations are both scattered and restricted to nature reserves and otherwise inaccessible/hard to reach areas. In Russia, the last surviving Amur leopards are found only in an area southwest of Primorye on the border with China and North Korea. Meanwhile camera traps have confirmed the presence of the Amur leopard in the Chinese provinces of Wangqing, Hunchun and Jilin. However,  [[https://xtadalafilp.com|buy xanax without prescrition]] the only evidence for the Amur leopard's continued existence in North Korea comes from a 2009 North Korean government web page detailing a population in residence in North Korea's Myohyangsan Nature Reserve. This health database has also provided much baseline data necessary for the Disease Risk Assessment (DRA) which Dr. Lewis and WVI’s epidemiologist Dr Alex Tomlinson completed in 2015.
Fire-fighting teams and anti-poaching brigades have been established in the Amur leopard’s habitat. Education and outreach programmes are encouraging local people to value their forests and the amazing wildlife found in them. And a leopard was one of the mascots chosen by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for the winter Olympic games in Sochi in 2014. It was then that a group of Russian and international experts came together to develop a conservation strategy to save this spectacular animal. They agreed that while it was essential to protect the remaining wild leopards, another possibility for strengthening their chance of survival would be to release captive-bred leopards into the wild.
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In the wild, reproduction remains rare due to low population numbers and limited genetic diversity. To make matters worse, the Amur leopard is also poached by hunters who want to acquire the leopard's coat and bones for sale on Asian black markets. Likewise, hunters are known to kill Amur leopards simply to eradicate natural competition for wild game, as well as in retaliation for Amur leopards occasionally preying on domestic animals. In fact, hunting is a significant problem for the Amur leopard due to most of the species' surviving territory being located in easily accessible and already popular hunting grounds.

WVI has been involved for many years in a range of activities related to saving the Amur leopard. We work to ensure that the current tiny population of Amur leopards is not at risk from disease and that veterinary issues posed by the reintroduction project are understood and professionally managed. For both the existing population of Amur leopards and those that might be reintroduced in the future, a proper understanding and assessment of the risks of disease and inbreeding is crucial.