Amur Leopard – There is still hope to save the Amur leopard.With only 30 – 40 remaining in the wild, the Amur leopards are listed in international, federal and regional levels as critically endangered and are in immediate danger of extinction. In captivity, the situation is also very serious, as interbreeding with animals of unknown heritage has affected a large percentage of the captive breeding pool. Because of this, of the 150 remaining in captivity only 12 are purebreds.As the Russian Far East struggles to survive in Moscow’s shadow, the Amur leopard is disappearing in the shadow of the Siberian (Amur) tiger. Millions of dollars have been raised to save the Siberian tiger by conservationists and wildlife management specialists with good results, when efforts began there were 150 Siberian tigers, today there are an estimated 400. Although the leopard and tiger have overlapping ranges, there has been very little research done to protect the Amur leopard and it has virtually been ignored. There is still hope to save the Amur leopard. We can take similar steps made to save the Siberian tiger; most importantly we need to make people aware of The Amur leopards situation and their extreme danger of extinction.
— with Sharon Cutshaw and Demitria Manbat Carswell.
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