Amur leopards need friends! Save them from extinction!

[2 Die FR]

By no sense of the word am I a conservationist, but the more I learn about the Amur Leopard, the more it scares me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/Amur_Leopard_Pittsburgh_Zoo.jpg

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amur_leopard

Only 35 known individuals remain in the wild. :gasp: Their official status is critically endangered, which means the species has an extremely high risk of becoming extinct. The Amur Leopard is the rarest big cat in the world.

I highly recommend you read this info page from amur.org.uk (http://amur.org.uk/leopards.shtml) as well as take a look at http://amur-leopard.org/. You can make a donation directly to ALTA (Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance) or buy and wear a T-shirt (http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/amurtshirt.html). More ideas of ways to help are here too. (http://amur.org.uk/help.shtml)

What these leopards need most from us is recognition! So spread the word - tell your friends at school, your coworkers, your roommates. The Amur leopard is not famous! We need to show the people who live near to the Amur leopards (Russian Far East) that the whole world cares about these animals.

I am very seriously considering giving a large donation to ALTA out of my birthday money next month (money that would have gone into buying myself a new iPod).

[LunarCat]

These cats are so spectacular, thanks for sharing this!! My favorite animal is the tiger so these seem to be included, i love the leopards too!! i'll definitely look into it! :D

[Shadow]

iv seen a program abut this not only 35 known left around 15 "or half" of them are the victums off in breeding "due to being cut off from the others" witch results in defect like oversiezed/undersized paws bone strucktore etc etc...

[Juniper]

It's really sad to say, but if there are only 35 individuals left in existance (especially just 6 females), then realistically the genetic pool in the wild is likely just too shallow to support a long-term repopulation, the species is probably beyond salvation. I guess if there's a significant number of these cats in zoos it may be do-able, but even then, it'd require a best-case-scenario situation and a logistical miracle. Of course, I think we should put forth effort to support the species as much as possible if humans have been a significant contributing factor to their decline.

But hey, it's a noble cause. It would doubtlessly be one of the hardest undertakings in conservation history, but no monumental achievement of mankind has ever been easy. Thanks for the info.

[2 Die FR]

About 250 individuals are being raised under extreme scrutiny at zoos around the world.

[Juniper]

That's good to hear, definitely more workable than the 35 in the wild :)