Lack of funds threaten critically-endangered Amur leopards in Primorski

Photo:Colin Hines/WikimediaDespite being home to the Amur leopard – one of the world's most endangered large cat species with just about 30-35 wild individuals remaining, Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve in the south-western Primorski region in Russia has been paralysed by lack of funds.

"Currently, 24 of the reserve's 35 employees are on a forced vacation, as they have not received their salaries for the last five months. The reserve even lacks funds to pay for fuel and other basic necessities for those who volunteered to work despite the salary delays. With the fire season approaching, the situation of the reserve is likely to aggravate further," says Michiel Hotte, Coordinator of the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) that works for the conservation of Amur leopards and Amur tigers.

The reason for this acute financial crunch has been attributed to a well-intended but poorly-executed reorganisation of the protected areas in the range of the Amur leopard.

The reorganisation had aimed to bring together three protected areas - which provide refuge to half of the remaining wild Amur leopards - under one improved management structure. Accordingly, two wildlife refuges – Barsovy and Borisovkoe Plato, were combined to create the Leopardovy Wildlife Refuge in October 2008, by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The responsibility of managing Leopardovy Wildlife Refuge was transferred to Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve.

However, both Leopardovy Wildlife Refuge and Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve now lack funds to support conservation of the critically-endangered Amur leopards. No state funds have been transferred to the common bank account activated in June 2009. Repeated reminders to the authorities to resolve this prolonged bureaucratic process have come to nought.

Vivek Menon, Executive Director, Wildlife Trust of India, said, "Kedrov in Russian means cedar. This reserve is one of the oldest cedar forest in Northern Europe and is also one of the first protected areas in Russia. Even without considering the Amur leopard which is itself precariously hanging on to its survival, the unique ecosystem of Kedrovaya is reason enough for its protection. In the recent past, the Russian government stopped several commercial ventures for the conservation of the Amur leopard, including stopping an oil pipeline through the leopard's habitat. Their lack of initiative now is disheartening."

"An Indian equivalent to this situation would be denotification of Corbett!"

Wildlife conservation agencies like the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Phoenix Fund, Zoological Society of London, Tigris Foundations as well as individual donors have offered help. The reserve management believes that it is the government's responsibility to provide for the salaries of the employees, at the least.

The Phoenix Fund has written to the Prime Minister requesting his intervention for a quick resolution of the imbroglio.

The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), also known as far-east leopard is listed as a critically-endangered species in the IUCN Red List.

Critically ill leopard treated and released in Assam

The leopard being treated. Photo: Dr Abhijit Bhawal

A sub-adult female leopard, found in a critical state on September 9 in Dinjan Military Station, Dibrugarh, Assam, was released in Joypur Reserve Forest last week by the Forest Department, following treatment provided with the assistance of the veterinarians from the Army and IFAW-WTI.

The leopard was found in a ditch within the military station. Dr Anurag Kohli, Lieutenant Colonel and Remote Veterinary Corp, began the treatment immediately. The Army personnel informed the Forest Department authorities.

“The leopard had no external injury, but passed blood stained stool and was vomiting. We suspected it to be a case of feline enteritis. It was sedated to administer the medication. Saline infusion was made as it was dehydrated. It was injected with antibiotics and painkillers, and oral supplements was provided laced in meat chunks. It recovered quite well,” said Dr Abhijit Bhawal, veterinarian of the Mobile Veterinary Services – Upper Assam, run by the Forest Department and IFAW-WTI.

The leopard was released at dawn last Sunday in Joypur Reserve Forest under the guidance of Jiten Baruah, Range Officer.

"A discussion was held with the locals before the release. The Forest Department officials assured that the release area will be monitored, just in case the leopard strays out of the forest," added Dr Bhawal.

Since the early 2000s when IFAW-WTI’s rescue programme began in the northeast Indian states particularly in Assam, more than 50 leopards have been attended to by the IFAW-WTI vets assisting the Forest Department. These include 13 cases in Upper Assam, of which five were released after stabilisation and necessary treatment while the remaining were transferred to other facilities for further treatment.

Flying Turkmen leopards to bring species back to Caucasus

Two leopards from Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan are recovering after a long flight and car ride to their new homes in a Russian national park, as part of efforts to reintroduce the species into the Caucasus region.

The leopards were moved into spacious pens in Sochi National Park in south-western Russia as part of a species reintroduction programme implemented by WWF and the Russian government.They travelled more than 1,000 kilometres by plane and then by car, and are in good health despite the long trip and being put under anaesthesia.

Upon arrival, the leopards were met by WWF, park staff and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Saturday and then released into large pens inside a special center created for them in the park.

The big cats (Panthera pardus saxicolor) will take part in the Programme for Persian Leopard Reintroduction, developed by experts from WWF and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and approved by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology.

“There are very few leopards in the whole of Caucasus, only a few dozen,” said Igor Chestin, WWF-Russia CEO. “They exist with the help of some inflow from Iran, which has several hundreds remaining. We want to create a new, Northern-based nucleus of the population, so that together with the Southern nucleus in Iran it can guarantee sustainability for the leopard population both in the Russian Caucasus and neighboring countries.”

The Leopards are already actively moving around. They drink a lot of water, which is normal after anesthesia, and one of them on Sunday ate a slab of meat given to him by veterinarians. Both leopards are males.

“They will have time to adapt to the new conditions and start to feel ownership of the territory by the time females arrive ”, said Umar Semyonov, deputy director of the Sochi national park. “And it will be easier for females to adapt with support from males.”

The leopards from Turkmenistan will live in the Centre for breeding and rehabilitation in the Sochi national park. Only their descendants will be released into the wild in the Caucasus strict nature reserve.

“Areas for future release were carefully chosen to resemble as much as possible leopards’ habitat in Turkmenistan, both in terms of relief and prey,” said Professor Anatoly Kudaktin, programme scientific supervisor. “Conditions in the Caucasus will be even more comfortable in some ways than in Turkmenistan, and ungulate density is higher here.”

These types of leopards are endangered because most of their habitats were lost in the last century due to transformation and migration routes between remaining isolated populations are cut off due to infrastructure development, which has led to small fragmented populations that cannot easily breed.

Financially, the Programme is supported by WWF-Russia, “Rosa Khutor” Company, VympelCom Group, and Russian government.

Leopard skins seized in Uttarakhand

Acting on information provided by WPSI, three leopard skins and a vehicle were seized by the Uttarakhand Forest Department on Sunday, 26 July 2009. The raid took place in a hotel at Birhi, near Chamoli, which comes under the Bhadrinath Forest Division.

One person was arrested while three people are absconding. All the accused belong to the Chamoli district. The raiding party, which was assisted by WPSI, was led by ACF Mr Tripathi. The leopards are believed to have been killed in the Nizmullah valley.

A Himalayan black bear was also found shot by poachers in the Bhadrinath Forest Division on 25 July. The gall bladder and fat had been removed from the body.

During the last six months, at least 16 leopard skins have been seized in the state of Uttarakhand.

On the evening of 25 July, timber poachers shot at a forest guard in the Surai Range of Terai East Division. The forest guard was seriously injured and has been hospitalised.