OES Funds Research to Protect Amur Leopard in Russia

Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
November 8, 2007

There are as few as 30 Amur Leopards left in the wild. OES recently sponsored efforts to improve the leopards, chances of avoiding extinction by funding a field study and community outreach program in Vladivostok, Russia. The field study, by U.S. veterinary expert Melody Roelke, included high-tech ultrasounds and EKG monitoring of two leopards to check for genetic problems associated with possible inbreeding. Sadly, the examinations showed that the remaining leopards are suffering some of the same consequences of in-breeding that afflicted Florida panthers in the U.S. in the 1980s, so action is urgently needed.

Part of that action includes educating local communities about the plight of the Amur leopards and what they can do to help. To the delight of local environmental activists, the community outreach program, a lecture by Russian and American big cat specialists and the premier of a 34 minute documentary film on the leopards, played to a packed house in Vladivostok on November 8, 2007. The event garnered excellent media coverage and the film will be shown in Russian schools to get the next generation involved in species and habitat protection. We also hope that the combination of the results of the field study and the community response to the film and lecture will persuade Russian specialists to consider introducing captive leopards into the Amur region to strengthen the genetic diversity of the population.