Some great news for the Amur Leopard:
A 261,000-acre national park in Russia’s Far East created to protect Amur leopards began operating this week, presidential chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said.
“Five days ago, on April 5, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a long-awaited order establishing the Land of the Leopard National Park. This is the first Russian national park created expressly to protect wildlife,” said Ivanov, who is chairman of the supervisory council of the Eurasian Center for Leopard Population Research, Preservation and Recovery.
Ivanov expressed optimism that the Amur leopard would avoid extinction. “Scientists do not think so and now we have everything to save it,” he said.
The Amur leopard population has steadily declined since the end of the 19th century and had reached a critical level. The main causes of the decline are “human activity, loss of habitat, illegal housing construction,” he said.
Establishment of the new park will give the leopard the required living space, he said, adding eight cubs have been born in the short time since the park’s establishment.
Source: http://en.rian.ru/Environment/20120410/172733627.html
Tallinn Zoo is celebrating the arrival of three newborn Amur leopard cubs.
Animal lovers around the world watched the births live online. The cameras are still on if you want to catch streaming footage of the young leopard family.
The cubs are just a few days old, but they already know how to growl and fight for their mother’s milk. The leopard mum is called Darla, and this was her fourth delivery.
Amur leopards are a critically endangered species. Currently there are just a few dozen living in the wild, mostly in Far Eastern Russia.
Source: http://rt.com/news/prime-time/amur-leopards-born-estonia-184/
Keep spreading word about them people! 🙂
JV.
Ungulate7 