The Far East leopard, a member of the leopard family living in Asia, is close to extinction, with the number of the species estimated to be less than 50.
Chinese and Russian wildlife experts jointly declared that the rare leopard is endangered because of excessive human activities in the original forests and the lack of food.
The feline animals have been isolated on several "islands" since the forests they used to live off of were broken into pieces by human beings.
Like the Siberian tigers, the Far East leopard used to be found in large amounts in the far east area of Russia, northeast China's Helongjiang and Jilin provinces, and the lush forests in the northern Korean Peninsula.
There were only 38 left in the far east area of Russia, according to a Russian field survey done between 1997-98.
The latest survey done in the two Chinese provinces were not optimistic either. Only seven to 12 Far East leopards were estimated to live in China. Their home is shrinking from the west to the east.
According to Chinese data, nearly 50 such animals were found in Jilin Province 30 years ago.
Experts suggested that Chinese and Russian governments as well as international wildlife organizations should start substantial cooperation at an early date so as to help resume the amount of the species in the wild.
Some of the specific suggestions are to establish a Sino-Russian nature reserve for the leopards in the Far East, to move residents out of the area, to ban logging and hunting in the area, and to build up a gene database of the wild species to serve for artificial reproduction.
(People’s Daily 10/29/2000)
