WVI vet gives world's rarest cat a check up

06th Nov 2008

A female Amur leopard has been trapped by a team including WVI's veterinary director, Dr. John Lewis, as part of their twice-yearly health screening programme. With only 35 of these animals remaining in the wild, and covering huge ranges, capturing the cats is not easy! Read more here.

During October and November 2008, WVI vet Dr John Lewis visited the Russian Far East to provide his expert assistance to the Amur Leopard Project. One of WVI's long term projects, Dr Lewis visits the region twice a year to assist with training local field biologists and vets in wildlife health monitoring. He also acts as anaesthetist for the twice-yearly trapping of the few leopards left in the wild, in order to screen the animals for disease.

This season's visit has been a huge success, and the team were able to trap a female leopard for health checking. The findings from her examination will help conservationists to understand the diseases that affect these cats in the wild. Her results may also shed light on a heart abnormality detected in other captured wild Amur leopards in the region.

Following the leopardess' examination, she was safely released unharmed.

To read more, click here..