VZCZCXRO7899
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHYG
DE RUEHVK #0125/01 3200351
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160351Z NOV 07
FM AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0830
INFO RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0260
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0272
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0117
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 0893

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VLADIVOSTOK 000125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ECON RU
SUBJECT: AMUR LEOPARD: WORLD'S RAREST BIG CAT AT THE CROSSROADS 
 
VLADIVOSTO 00000125  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U)  Summary:  On November 8, 2007 the Consulate helped 
organize and host a film and lecture dedicated to the plight of 
the Amur leopard, the world's rarest big cat.  The event took 
place at Vladivostok's Arsenyev Museum.  The film, roughly 
translated as "Forsaken Challenge," noted that one of the major 
priorities in conserving the animal is the creation of a 
national park in its territory to preserve vital habitat. 
Following the screening, Dr. Melody Roelke, a big cat expert 
from the National Institutes of Health, reported the results of 
her recent field research on the leopard.  According to Dr. 
Roelke, the results were discouraging.  The two leopards of the 
population of 34 that they trapped and examined exhibited 
worrying traits, including heart murmurs and reproductive 
problems - indications of inbreeding.  She warned that the 
Florida panther displayed the same problems before it entirely 
vanished from the wild a decade ago. 
 
Amur Leopard status 
 
¶2. (U) The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is listed 
as Category I in the Red Book of Russia, identifying the species 
as being in the rarest, most critically endangered category. 
The leopards inhabit an extremely limited range, with the core 
population in southwest Primorye.  It is also included in the 
International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List. 
Male leopards can weigh up to 50kg, females as little as 35kg, 
and they are of course carnivorous, feeding mainly on deer.  The 
leopard inhabits mixed forest environments and has long fur to 
withstand the freezing weather.  Despite the fact that hunting 
for leopards has been prohibited since 1956, there are still 
frequent cases of poaching and even malicious shootings.  The 
thirty-five remaining animals range between Vladivostok and the 
Sino-Russian border, according to a recent survey conducted by a 
team of specialists.  Their future viability is extremely 
precarious.  The plight of the Amur leopard received renewed 
focus in mid-April, when a female was found shot and beaten to 
death.  According to investigators, the killing appeared to be 
particularly senseless: the leopardess was shot through the 
hindquarters as she was running away from her attacker, and then 
bludgeoned with a heavy, blunt object. 
 
Research efforts of conservation consortium 
 
¶3. (U) The studies of the Amur leopard population began in the 
mid-1990's, when a team of Russian and American biologists 
started fitting leopards with radio collars to obtain 
information on movements, home range size and habitat needs. 
Currently, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) monitors 
population, using cameras set in the forest each winter.  This 
method provides environmentalists with information on leopard 
distribution and, due to unique spot patterns on the skin of 
each leopard, photos provide information on individual 
movements, population densities, and rates of population 
turnover.  Some Russian researchers, however, object to the use 
of radio collars, saying it interferes with the leopards' 
natural navigational abilities.  There are also conservationists 
here who object to introducing any outside leopards into the 
range to help build up the population and diversify the genetic 
mix.  Although there is evidence that of sperm damage in the 
Amur leopard population.  Since the wild population remained so 
small for a decade, scientists suspected that inbreeding was 
taking place, which is a danger, as it causes serious health 
problems and birth defects, and can ultimately destroy the 
population. 
 
¶4. (U)  Dale Miquelle, director of the Wildlife Conservation 
Society's (WCS) Russian Program described the capture of 
leopards for veterinary examination as "a milestone in the 
cooperative efforts to save the Far Eastern leopard from 
extinction."  In 2006, the WCS invited Melody Roelke of the 
Laboratory for Genomic Diversity, of the National Institutes of 
Health of the U.S., to conduct a medical exam of Amur leopard. 
It was for the first time that scientists had an opportunity to 
run a series of medical and genetic tests, including the 
collection of sperm to assess  reproductive capacity. 
 
¶5. (U) This year, Dr. Roelke, whom the consulate helped to come 
to Primorye, and the team of scientists continued their field 
study and spent a month deep in the taiga (Russian Far East wild 
forests) conducting medical assessments on two leopards which 
the group was able to capture and tranquilize.  The examination, 
including high-tech ultrasounds and EKG monitoring, proved the 
scientists' suspicion of inbreeding and reproductive problems, 
which may contribute to the extinction of species if action is 
not taken. 
 
Important Next Steps 
 
¶6. (U) Plans for Amur leopard conservation include development 
of a captive breeding center to strengthen the generic diversity 
 
VLADIVOSTO 00000125  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
of the population, and establishment of a second, separate 
population in the mountains of the southern Sikhote-Alin in 
Primorye.  The conservation consortium intends to begin a new 
research project in southwest Primorye aimed at collecting 
detailed data on leopard ecology and their relationship with 
tigers, as well as with people.  Radio-tracking will further 
help identify movement corridors between Russia, China, and 
perhaps North Korea, allowing scientists to better link 
protected areas and strategically position new protected areas. 
Primorye environmental organizations continuer their educational 
work with the local population in order to save leopards and 
their habitat by preventing forest fires and encouraging 
conservation.  Environmentalists say the most effective means of 
reaching the population is through children, who then exert an 
influence on their parents.  Last year, WWF opened the "Land of 
the Leopard" visitors' center in the town of Barabash, which 
hosts groups of schoolchildren who come to learn about Khasan 
District's animals and habitat.  WWF also sponsors the "Leopard 
Days" festival in September, during which district children 
celebrate the area's most famous denizens with talent shows, 
exhibits, drawing contests, and other activities. 
 
Administrative barriers on the way of Amur leopard 
 
¶7.  (U)  Comment:  The Amur leopard can be saved from extinction 
if the present conservation initiatives are implemented, 
enhanced and sustained.  But no efforts of Russian 
environmentalists and their international colleagues involved in 
Amur leopard conservation can have success until the Russian 
national government takes important steps, including creation of 
a national park in the southwest of Primorye.  According to 
scientists, the national park should unite Kedrovaya Pad', 
Borisovskoye Plateau, and Barsoviy preserves, covering 727 
square miles.  The national park, strengthened by federal 
legislation and a conservation budget would enforce efforts 
against poaching, environmental poisoning, hunting, illegal 
timber harvesting, forest fires, and roads construction.  The 
conservation consortium has been advocating for such a refuge 
for the last twelve years, but the effort has received no 
official response in Moscow. Some hope, however, has emerged 
recently, when in summer 2007, the Russian federal government 
announced creation of two new national parks, the Zov Tigra 
National Park in southeast Primorye and Udege Legenda National 
Park in the central part of the region by 2010.  It is notable 
that First Vice Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov visited the 
Kedrovaya Pad' nature preserve during his trip to the Russian 
Far East in September 2007.  He promised Park Director Irina 
Maslova that all necessary administrative decisions will be made 
to help preserve the world's only wild habitat area of the Amur 
leopard.  According to the official, the Amur leopard, the same 
as the Amur tiger, are a national endowment and preservation is 
an affair of state, along with the help provided by charitable 
organizations and international foundations.  "And although this 
sphere is not within my responsibility. I consider it necessary 
to provide help in the settlement of these problems," Ivanov 
said.  Post appreciates the support from OES and keen interest 
in this issue from many quarters of the Department and our 
colleagues in other agencies involved in conservation and we 
look forward to supporting future initiatives. 
ARMBRUSTER