Veterinary support for conservation worldwide
A photo of a short-tailed Amur leopard cub taken in the Russian wilderness by a team including a WVI vet could illustrate a worrying first to be seen in the wild.
The research mission including Dr John Lewis has just returned from two months with the Amur Leopard Project in the Russian Far East. The leopards, known for their long bushy tails, remained elusive and none were caught, but a camera trap photo has shown up a phenomenon not seen before.
It is possible that the cub’s short tail is due to injury, but it is also possible that inbreeding may be to blame. If so, it could mean that all 30 left in the wild are reasonably closely related, and/or that offspring are not migrating far enough to stop inbreeding.
WVI founder and director Dr Lewis said: “With a population size of 30 to 35 individuals there is little doubt that the Amur leopards are inbred to a degree. The question is whether this degree of inbreeding has thrown up any significant health problems.”
As genetically small populations are particularly susceptible to new types of diseases, it underlines the importance of the disease surveying that WVI is carrying out both in the Russian Far East and in captivity.
Should a second population be introduced, it is absolutely essential that they do not bring new diseases to the area and threaten remaining wild leopards.
To date, WVI does not have sufficient funding to test the genetic data gathered from the few wild leopards that have been sampled. With funding, we would have some idea about how related these leopards are to each other.
The team of scientists from WVI, WCS Russia and ZSL did manage to catch two Amur tigers Panthera tigris altaica and two Asiatic black bears Ursus thibetanus. Data on what diseases these two species have been exposed to will be useful to build the picture of the diseases the Amur leopards will face as any release area will be shared with both species.
In addition to camping out in subzero temperatures and searching for signs of Amur leopard, John was able to talk to other research and wildlife veterinary teams, forming links and gathering information.
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