There have been few sightings of the endangered Persian leopard in the Caucasus region over the past 20 years: just three in Georgia and 10 in Armenia. But scientists and conservationists are alert to one Persian leopard in particular, whom they\u2019ve named Aren and who is presumed to have journeyed 240 kilometers (150 miles) through cold, mountainous terrain with only three legs. This region of the world \u2014 made up of southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan \u2014 still contains decades-old minefields from prior conflicts, and it\u2019s believed this is how Aren was injured.<\/p>\n
Joining the Newscast this week to discuss her story for Mongabay is journalist Kayleigh Long, who explains how this leopard subspecies, Panthera pardus tulliana, persists in the region. She also describes how NGOs like NACRES, operating on extremely thin budgets, continue to monitor the big cats and provide what protection they can.<\/p>\n
\u201cWWF is also monitoring the leopards. They put some cameras out in the same area as NACRES. So it\u2019s really difficult,\u201d she says. \u201cI mean, these guys \u2026 are doing things on an absolute skeleton crew. And that\u2019s partly because of a lack of funding more generally. There\u2019s been a kind of tightening of purse strings around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
NACRES, founded in Georgia in 1991 as the Noah\u2019s Ark Centre for the Recovery of Endangered Species and later renamed the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation & Research, has a staff of just three people, led by a zoologist named Bejan Lortkipanidze, who accompanied Long in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s extremely dedicated,\u201d Long says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to him, \u2018What would you do if you had unlimited resources?\u2019 And he said he\u2019d have a monitoring center set up, and he would like to prioritize \u2026 education and outreach. So going to villages and in remote areas like Tusheti region, and saying to people, \u2018Here\u2019s what you do if you see a leopard.\u2019 And \u2026 mitigation measures for human-wildlife conflict to try and ensure that there aren\u2019t these retaliatory or otherwise killings of leopards and other species.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along national borders in the Caucasus, landmines pose risks to humans and wild animals alike, as do fences. Thousands of kilometers of barbed-wire from the Soviet era still stand across parts of the Caucasus, and they can trap leopards, bears, and deer.<\/p>\n
Despite the region\u2019s challenges, the mere persistence of leopards and the dedication of NGOs operating amid increasingly difficult conditions after USAID\u2019s shuttering offer a sense of hope, Long says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the stories that I\u2019m trying to seek out are ones that reflect the possibility of a better, a kinder, and more just world. And I think when you look at things like borders, they can reflect the very worst of our instincts, or if people are able to cooperate and recognize that we are a part of nature and that this is our environment, we all have to get along with nature and with each other,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps it\u2019s naive of me,\u201d she adds, \u201cbut \u2026 in times like this, I sort of think hope is a moral imperative.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Endangered](\"https:\/\/www.waza.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/gsmp-amur-leopard-cub-wz-1024x684.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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