A female Amur leopard has been found killed. She was one of only 25 to 34 of the Amur or Far Eastern leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) remaining in the wild, according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund. Anonymous tips led an anti-poaching squad to the body of the leopardess about two miles from Bamburovo village in the territory of Barsovy National Wildlife Refuge in the Russian Far East.
The next day veterinarians from the Zoological Society of London found the 77 pound mature female leopard had been shot in the back side, the bullet coming through the tail bone, crushing the hip bones, and lodging in the belly. She was then beaten to death with a heavy object. “The killing of even one female is a huge loss for a cat on the brink of extinction, ” said Darron Collins, managing director of the Amur-Heilong Program, World Wildlife Fund. “This year’s census showed a desperate situation, with just seven female Amur leopards left in the wild and four rearing cubs. Now we’ve lost a mature, reproductive leopardess and her potential cubs in a senseless killing. This is the third leopard killed within this area over the last five years and underscores the desperate need for a unified protected area with national park status if the leopard is to survive in the wild.”
Just in case you’re entertaining the notion that the loss of remote leopards won’t impact your life, read on–MoJo’s latest cover story, GONE.–Julia Whitty
