To save the leopard – a regional strategy is being prepared for range states
The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (also known as the CMS or the Bonn Convention) and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation plan to organize a meeting of the range states of the Persian leopard to adopt a Regional Strategy for the Conservation of the Species as part of the Central Asia Mammals Initiative.
The range of the Western Asian, or Persian, as it is called in Western countries, leopard covers Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Previously, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were part of the range, but now this feline species is not found there.
Most of these leopards live in Iran and Turkmenistan.
The Persian leopard is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as critically endangered; the population is estimated at 871 to 1290 adults and is considered declining.
Iran's environment department plans to restore the lost habitats of endangered Persian leopards by giving them more prey opportunities, ISNA reported on Saturday. To do this, it is planned in the territories where these beautiful wild cats were and still are found, to revive the biodiversity, reduced due to excessive human hunting. In addition, the department provides for damages if a leopard attacks livestock.
According to the Department, from 2005 to 2014, 156 leopards were killed in Iran, almost 20 leopards per year. Studies show that there are currently less than 500 leopards in the country.
The Persian leopards are mainly threatened by the depletion of their prey base due to poaching, human intervention, habitat loss due to deforestation, fires, agricultural expansion, overgrazing and infrastructure development. The chances of leopards surviving outside protected areas seem very low.
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