Russian conservationists released
three leopards into the North Caucasus mountains on Friday, in the first ever
attempt to reintroduce a big cat species to an area where it has gone
extinct.
The release marks the culmination of years of work on a groundbreaking conservation programme run by the World Wildlife Fund and the Russian Academy of Sciences and backed by President Vladimir Putin.
“This is only the beginning. To create a stable self-sustaining population there must be at least 50 adult animals in the region. This is the goal our programme aims to achieve,” said Igor Chestin, head of the Russian branch of WWF.
Two males and one female were released in remote mountains above the Black Sea resort of Sochi in a ceremony covered by state television on Friday afternoon.
The Russian Academy of Sciences and WWF first proposed reintroducing the leopards in 2005. The Russian environment ministry endorsed the project in 2007, and it won personal backing from Vladimir Putin in 2009.
A breeding scheme using leopards donated by Turkmenistan, Iran, and Portugal resulted in a number of young, who were raised out of sight of humans in a state-of-the-art reintroduction and rehabilitation centre designed to prepare animals for life in the wild.
Three of their offspring, a female called Victoria and two males called Akhun and Kili, were flown from the reintroduction centre to an alpine meadow 30 miles east of Sochi and released on Friday afternoon.
Persian leopards once roamed a vast area stretching from central Asia to the Black Sea, but were wiped out in Russia’s western Caucasus by the 1920s.
There are believed to be only a few hundred left in the wild, mostly in isolated populations in Turkmenistan and Iran.
Conservationists hope the new population here will eventually expand to reoccupy much of the leopards’ historical range between the Black and Caspian Seas.
The program has enjoyed high-profile support, with Mr Putin visiting the reintroduction centre in 2014 for a photo-opportunity with the animals.
However, conservationists recently warned that the programme is threatened by government-backed plans to develop ski-resorts in the area.
Mr Chestin and other conservationists say that would cut a crucial migration corridor for the leopards and their prey, potentially jeopardising the entire project.
Last month the Telegraph revealed the programme is the subject of an internal struggle within the Kremlin, with senior figures lining up to lobby for either the resort operators or the leopards.
Dmitry Kozak, the deputy prime minister responsible for Russia’s 2014 Winter Olympic legacy, has backed plans to redraw the boundaries of the Caucasus Biosphere reserve and allow ski resorts to expand inside the Sochi National Park.
Several other senior government figures, including Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, are understood to have privately spoken out against the development plans.
By Roland Oliphant
With many thanks to Telegraph UK
Update from Save The Tiger:
The “Striped Express” launched in Moscow’s world-famous Metro subway system on Friday.
The train’s interior will give passengers the chance to learn about the rare cats that live in Russia’s Far East.
The train, which celebrates the world's two rarest cats — the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern leopard — hit the tracks on July 29.
The train's interior is decorated with images of the two feline species, designed by artists from around Russia. One of the cars is decorated with images created completely by an artificial neural network, developed and trained by Prisma Labs Company.
The stickers inside the cars not only provide information about the species, but also allow some degree of interactivity: for example, every passenger has the opportunity to compare the size of their hand with that of the infant and mature predator's paw.
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The release marks the culmination of years of work on a groundbreaking conservation programme run by the World Wildlife Fund and the Russian Academy of Sciences and backed by President Vladimir Putin.
“This is only the beginning. To create a stable self-sustaining population there must be at least 50 adult animals in the region. This is the goal our programme aims to achieve,” said Igor Chestin, head of the Russian branch of WWF.
Two males and one female were released in remote mountains above the Black Sea resort of Sochi in a ceremony covered by state television on Friday afternoon.
The Russian Academy of Sciences and WWF first proposed reintroducing the leopards in 2005. The Russian environment ministry endorsed the project in 2007, and it won personal backing from Vladimir Putin in 2009.
A breeding scheme using leopards donated by Turkmenistan, Iran, and Portugal resulted in a number of young, who were raised out of sight of humans in a state-of-the-art reintroduction and rehabilitation centre designed to prepare animals for life in the wild.
Three of their offspring, a female called Victoria and two males called Akhun and Kili, were flown from the reintroduction centre to an alpine meadow 30 miles east of Sochi and released on Friday afternoon.
Persian leopards once roamed a vast area stretching from central Asia to the Black Sea, but were wiped out in Russia’s western Caucasus by the 1920s.
There are believed to be only a few hundred left in the wild, mostly in isolated populations in Turkmenistan and Iran.
Conservationists hope the new population here will eventually expand to reoccupy much of the leopards’ historical range between the Black and Caspian Seas.
The program has enjoyed high-profile support, with Mr Putin visiting the reintroduction centre in 2014 for a photo-opportunity with the animals.
However, conservationists recently warned that the programme is threatened by government-backed plans to develop ski-resorts in the area.
Mr Chestin and other conservationists say that would cut a crucial migration corridor for the leopards and their prey, potentially jeopardising the entire project.
Last month the Telegraph revealed the programme is the subject of an internal struggle within the Kremlin, with senior figures lining up to lobby for either the resort operators or the leopards.
Dmitry Kozak, the deputy prime minister responsible for Russia’s 2014 Winter Olympic legacy, has backed plans to redraw the boundaries of the Caucasus Biosphere reserve and allow ski resorts to expand inside the Sochi National Park.
Several other senior government figures, including Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, are understood to have privately spoken out against the development plans.
By Roland Oliphant
With many thanks to Telegraph UK
Update from Save The Tiger:
The “Striped Express” launched in Moscow’s world-famous Metro subway system on Friday.
The train’s interior will give passengers the chance to learn about the rare cats that live in Russia’s Far East.
The train, which celebrates the world's two rarest cats — the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern leopard — hit the tracks on July 29.
The train's interior is decorated with images of the two feline species, designed by artists from around Russia. One of the cars is decorated with images created completely by an artificial neural network, developed and trained by Prisma Labs Company.
The stickers inside the cars not only provide information about the species, but also allow some degree of interactivity: for example, every passenger has the opportunity to compare the size of their hand with that of the infant and mature predator's paw.
According to Moscow's city website, "The eight train cars are like
eight chapters from a book on the daily life of these animals as they
grow up from tiny cubs to the most perfect predators."
The Striped Express debuted on International Tiger Day. It is a joint project of the Moscow Metro, the Amur Tiger Centre, the Far Eastern Leopards autonomous non-profit organization and the Russian Geographical Society. Both the Amur Tiger Centre and the Far Eastern Leopards are devoted to studying, preservation and population restoration of the world's biggest and rarest cats population.
Metro ticket offices have also started selling limited edition travel cards for two trips with tiger and leopard pictures. There are 600,000 tickets in total.
The Striped Express debuted on International Tiger Day. It is a joint project of the Moscow Metro, the Amur Tiger Centre, the Far Eastern Leopards autonomous non-profit organization and the Russian Geographical Society. Both the Amur Tiger Centre and the Far Eastern Leopards are devoted to studying, preservation and population restoration of the world's biggest and rarest cats population.
Metro ticket offices have also started selling limited edition travel cards for two trips with tiger and leopard pictures. There are 600,000 tickets in total.
Some related posts:
Surprising Facts About Our Favorite Big Cats
Earliest Big Cat Fossil Found in Tibet
The Serengeti Lion: An Exquisite National Geographic Project
Buddhist Monks and The "Tiger Temple" of Kanchanaburi
Lion Cub Triplets Raise Hope for The Endangered Asiatic Lion
The Siberian Tiger
Bornean Marbled Cat: An Ultra-rare Cat Species Captured On Camera
Iranian Cheetah Sighting Gives Hope To Conservation Efforts
Cincinnati Zoo Cheetah Sets New World Speed Record!
Snow Leopard and Cubs at Magdeburg Zoo
Swimming Tigers at Australia Zoo
Another Chance for Three Orphaned Tiger Cubs
Golden Tabby Tigers
Lion Protector, Shivani Bhalla Helps Big Cats and People Coexist
Asher Jay: Art Of The Matter
India’s Wild Tiger Population Has Increased 30% Since 2010
A Tiger Sets Out For Independence
World Lion Day: Some Stunning Images Of The King Of The Jungle
Two Snow Leopard Cubs Born at Brookfield Zoo
White Lions - A Royal Family
Lions Gain New Endangered Species Protections
Leopard Hunting Banned in South Africa For Remainder of 2016
Africa’s Big Five Animals
A Hidden Population Of Up To 200 Lions Has Been Found In Ethiopia
Tigers Are Coming Back!
Russia Builds A Huge Tunnel To Save A Near-Extinct Group of Leopards
Tracking Sumatran Tigers
30 Tiger Zoos In Thailand Face Nationwide Checks
The Black Panther
