International Leopard Day is celebrated on May 3
International Leopard Day is celebrated on May 3 worldwide.
Employees of the Land of the Leopard National Park, the territory with the rarest leopard on the planet, joined an online conference dedicated to this event. The conference was organized by the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA). International Leopard Day is a young holiday. It was established in the spring of 2023 at the World Leopard Conference, which brought together hundreds of researchers, conservationists and enthusiasts for an event dedicated to all subspecies of the leopard in the world, including the Far East. In honor of the significant event on May 3, 2024, specialists of the Land of the Leopard National Park, where the world’s only wild population of the Far Eastern leopard is preserved, took part in an online conference. The meeting participants shared up-to-date data on the state of the population, many years of experience in the field of leopard conservation. So, at the conference, they said that at the beginning of the 21st century only 35 individuals of the Far Eastern leopard were recorded in Primorye. Over 12 years of operation, Land of the Leopard has managed to increase this extremely low figure by more than three times. Now 129 individuals of the Far Eastern leopard are recorded in the protected areas of the "Land of the Leopard", and the range of this large cat is spreading more and more widely.
In addition to the International Leopard Day, on May 25, "Land of the Leopard" will hold the festival " The goal is to tell residents and guests of the Far Eastern capital about the leopard, part of the population of which lives including on the territory of the Vladivostok urban district (Peschany Peninsula). Currently, leopards are found in 63 countries in Africa and Asia, but this is only a small part of the territory where they once lived. The total population is about 700 000, the Far Eastern subspecies of the leopard is considered the rarest: in Russia, where most of the population is located, 129 individuals are recorded. He lives only in the south of the Primorsky Territory and in the border territories with the PRC. There are currently nine subspecies of leopard in the world. All subspecies are solitary hunters. Their strong jaws and powerful neck allow them to lift their prey into trees where other animals cannot reach. The pattern of spots on the skin of each leopard is unique as a human fingerprint. Land of the Leopard National Park was established in 2012 to preserve and restore the world’s only population of the Far Eastern leopard. Work is underway to protect nature from poaching, logging and forest fires, environmental education and ecotourism are developing. Material and photos prepared and provided by the national park.
