Posted on 18 October
2011
A wild Amur leopard has been photographed
by a camera trap in northeast China last
month, adding evidence to the possibility
of population stability of the species.
The photos were taken in the afternoon on
19 September 2011 at one of WWF’s Amur tiger
conservation pilot sites. The camera traps
were set-up by WWF-China and the Jilin Forestry
Department to document Amur leopards, tigers
and their prey.
What makes this particular
event important is that the leopard was
found scores of kilometres away from the
China-Russia border – far further than the
believed maximum home range covered by an
Amur leopard. Based on previous discoveries
of Amur leopard tracks found by WWF-China
in Wangqing, this further infers that the
leopard caught on camera is likely to be
from the area.
Dr Zhu Chunquan, Conservation
Director of Biodiversity and Operations,
WWF-China said that this was a positive
step towards Amur leopard conservation in
China.
"The total population of the wild Amur
leopard is even more endangered than its
more eminent cousin, the Amur tiger. The
recovery of the population in northeast
China is very critical for the sustainable
survival of the entire Amur leopard population
in the world,” said Dr Zhu.
WWF-China is working closely with the Jilin
Forestry Department to protect Amur tigers
and leopards by conducting activities like
anti-poaching, patrolling and monitoring,
recovery of prey population, and promoting
the establishment of nature reserves to
the government. So far, progress has been
made in the official drawing up of recovery
plans; and Wangqing provincial nature reserve
will be promoted to national level, thereby
increasing the habitat area for both the
Amur tiger and leopard.
The Amur leopard is a very rare and endangered
species that is in extreme need of proper
conservation efforts. Due to the rarity
of the animal, special background survey
or data of the Amur leopard has not been
conducted in China. But according to data
collected roughly ten years ago in the wildlife
resource surveys in Jilin and Heilongjiang
provinces, there's an estimated 7-12 Amur
leopards in China. Another 20-25 are believed
to live in southern Russia.
In 2009, WWF-China established
the pilot site in Wangqing for wild Amur
tiger and leopard conservation. We have
been working closely with the Jilin Forestry
Department and Wangqing Forest Bureau in
the pilot site to ensure tiger and leopard
population recovery, and since then successes
have been made in finding Amur leopard tracks,
dung and hairs over the past few years during
daily monitoring and winter surveys. Jilin
Forestry Bureau and WWF-China are planning
to conduct a background survey for the Amur
leopard population in Jilin to acquire the
basic data for conservation.
