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Amur Leopard conservation report Unit 19: Understand the principles of Wildlife Populations, Ecology and Conservation http://wallpaperich.com/image/2013/17/amur-leopard-1483-hd-wallpapers.jpg Marc Pummell

Amur Leopard

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Amur Leopard conservation report

Unit 19: Understand the principles of Wildlife Populations, Ecology and Conservation

http://wallpaperich.com/image/2013/17/amur-leopard-1483-hd-wallpapers.jpg

Marc Pummell

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Amur Leopard background

Amur Leopards live in Primorsky Krai, Russia (Far East) and Far East China (use to live in North Korea). Amur Leopards are a sub species of the African Leopard that has adapted to live in large forests and mountains. The Amur Leopard has also adapted to live in long, cold winter, which is unusual for Leopard (except for the Snow Leopard). As the food web shoe the Amur Leopards are carnivorous and the species they prey on include Roe Deer, Sika Deer’s, hares and badgers. On average, they live to 15 years in the wild and can live up to 20 years in captivity. Breeding season for the Amur Leopard is spring and early summer. An Amur Leopard can give birth to a litter that ranges in the size of 1-4 cubs. Cubs are weaned until they are three months old and the leave their mother at one and a half years old. The Amur Leopard is nocturnal and a solitary cat. Although in some cases, the father helps the mother in raising the cub.

Global changes to ecosystem

The earth is gradually getting warmer because of global warming (GW). Greenhouse gases cause GW and some of the gases are carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbon and many more. The atmosphere traps these gases; these gases allow the normal amount of heat in but only letting a small amount of heat out. The result of excess heat staying in the atmosphere has caused the Earth’s temperature to increase at an alarming rate; this causes the ice to melt, natural disasters, droughts, species population decrease and some species can become extinct.

Global warming has affected the population of the Amur Leopard because the temperature has increased by 1.3 degrees. Although it does not sound much, it is causing the Amur Leopard’s prey (Boar and Deer) to relocate to another habitat because it is too hot for them. Also the snow in its habitat is melting, which creates more land for

farming, so humans are destroying the Leopard’s habitat as well. The geographical range of the Amur Leopard has

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decreased by a large amount (as map below shows). Global warming has also affected the Sika Deer population in Eastern Asia by a large

Pink area show where they use to live, red area is where they live now

http://files.amazingamur.webnode.com/200000017-39d513a538/food%20web.png

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amount, although the Sika deer is found in many other places in the wild, so it isn’t nearly threatened as much as the Amur Leopard. The other prey species the Amur Leopard has relied on is also decreasing in size because of the same reasons the Amur Leopard’s population is decreasing.

As you can see the Amur Leopard, population has alternated between increasing and decreasing since 1972-73. They have estimated the population size from photos they have taken of the species. The estimated population is around 30 individuals, which is about the same in 2007. The population of the Amur Leopard as also been changing rapidly because of inbreeding, habitat loss, decrease in prey, poaching and conflict with humans. Because of the low numbers of the population, inbreeding is a major concern because it reduces the fertility of the cubs and it can lead to many other genetic problems. Over the past 40 years, the Amur Leopard has lost the majority of its habitat, because of forest fires, farming and logging, but the forests are still large enough for the Amur Leopard to thrive. The lack of prey is because the prey sources in these forests cannot keep up with the demand the Amur Leopard and Tiger has for the species. Poaching is one of the biggest concerns because its fur is one of the most popular types to wear. An Amur Leopard coat can be worth around 1000 US Dollars (£567). Amur Leopards have also been known to kill and eat livestock, which has caused the farmers to kill the Amur Leopard so they do not lose any money.

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Conservation strategies:

The Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance long-term goals from the conservation strategy are:

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1. Identify optimal reintroduction areas and release sites. 2. Build a reintroduction centre with breeding/release enclosures and creating the

conditions required for breeding, adaptation and successful reintroduction of leopards.

3. Form a breeding group of captive leopards that will become the founders of the reintroduced wild population.

4. Take actions to maintain the quality of the leopard habitat including additional protection of prey species and leopards against poachers.

5. Breed leopards, preparing cubs for life in the wild and releasing them into the wild.

6. Implement a monitoring system and follow the movements of released individual leopards and the development of the reintroduced population as a whole.

7. Conduct an educational outreach program targeted at local citizens in order to increase their support for the program, and develop a compensation and conflict resolution program in order to ease tensions when leopards do cause damage.

8. Ensure international co-operation and support for the program.

The picture below is of the potential reintroduction habitat of the Amur Leopard in the south of Sikhote-Alin. The dark blue areas provide the best habitat for the Leopard, while the dark brown habitat does not provide suitable habitat for the Leopard. The protected areas (In red) are where they will release the Leopard in to the wild, and they will be able to spread throughout Eastern Asia.

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The

South-west corner of the map is where they will not to put the Leopard study area, which is where they will monitor the Leopards and prepare captive individuals for release. They will have to bring in the captive Leopards from zoos across the world, which would be

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difficult in being able to reintroduce them into the wild because they would have only lived in an enclosure all their lives.

The picture above is of two large enclosures for a two pairs of Amur Leopards. There will be many video cameras around the enclosures to monitor the Leopards. There will be food and water that the keepers provide but mainly they will be getting live deer so the Leopards can improve their hunting skills and be able to teach their cubs. The Leopards will not be able to see, smell or hear the keepers and conservationists because of observation blinds. It is essential the Amur Leopards do not get use to the humans because they will be less inclined to go near any if the Amur Leopard sees and humans in the wild. There is one gate and dirt road, so the keepers, conservationists and vets can go in if necessary. The humans will release the Leopards in to the wild if they are able to live in the wild by themselves, and the breeding centre will receive more Leopards so they can eventually release them in to the wild. If there is a surplus of one sex, the ALTA said they would give the surplus individuals to zoos for a later date. They are hoping to create a ‘Hunting management department’ they will provide protection and control of illegal hunting outside of Lazovski Zapovvednik. The teams will patrol daily around the reserve and scientists will tract the Amur Leopards with radio collars. To prepare the captive born Leopards for the wild they will have little or no interaction with humans, a large enclosure, live food to hunt and they will be in their natural habitat so they will get use to the climate. To track the released Leopards the Scientists will give the Male Leopards GPS collars,

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because they are bigger, provide more detail on movement (because males are most likely going to travel further) and the have a lifespan of two years. The females will be fitted with the VHF collars, which last longer (4-5 years), although they provide fewer details on the movements, but it enables the scientists to monitor survival, reproduction

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and mortality. The tracking allows the scientists to see if they are regularly in human conflict, they can move the Leopard or if they continue to be a major problem they can bring them back in to captivity to breed more. They are going to start an ‘Education and a public relations program’ to increase the knowledge about the species for the locals. They will produce promotional materials including calendar, brochures and posters. The local population will receive these materials, which will increase approval of the Amur Leopard. There will be a bi-annual survey given to the population so the scientists will know what the locals think about the Amur Leopard. They also want to make an agreement with the locals about what to do if an Amur Leopard does come in to their village. The ALTA is receiving support from the following agencies:

Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation: oversight of program; provides permits, coordinates and provides control over program procedures.

Federal Supervisory Agency for Resource Management, RosPrirodNazor, Primorsky Krai: provides control over program procedures.

Lazovski Zapovvednik (Nature Reserve): has primary responsibility for construction and management of the reproduction and release centre; provides protection of released leopards and prey species in the reserve, , manages monitoring of leopards within the Zapovvednik and leads in the implementation of the education program for local communities.

Administration of Primorsky Krai: provides permitting, coordinates and provides control over program procedures as well as protection of leopards and prey species outside federal protected areas.

Institute of Biology and Soils of the Russian Academy of Science, Far Eastern Branch, Vladivostok: provides scientific expertise including design and implementation of the monitoring program.

European Zoo and Aquarium Association / Far Eastern leopard EEP: oversees management of the captive Far Eastern leopard population in Europe and Russia and provides leopards for the founder group.

Wildlife Vets International. Is the veterinary consultant for the Far Eastern leopard EEP and provides veterinary support for the reintroduction.

American Zoo Association (AZA) oversees management of the captive Far Eastern leopard population in North America via a Species Survival Plan (SSP) provides leopards for the founder group.

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF): provides management assistance, financial and scientific support.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS): provides financial and management assistance as well as scientific support.

Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Moscow Zoo: co-ordinate the selection of leopards from the Far Eastern leopard EEP and SSP.

Phoenix Fund: assists in the planning and implementation of education and media activities, as well as in the protection of leopards and prey, and provision of financial support.

Zov Taigi: assists in the planning and implementation of education and media activities, including production of videos, articles and other (multi) media activities.

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WWF Russia conservation strategy

Main Objectives

1. Organize an effective guard of the reserves and hunting areas within the le-opard's natural habitat, and to beef up the personnel and the material and technical base.

2. Create a special executive group for the conservation of the leopard, based in the leopard's habitat; add qualified personnel to existing groups and provide them with transportation; coordinate the activities of the guards at the Kedrovaya Pad, Barsovy and Borisovskoye Plateau reserves with the hunting area guards; and

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exchange information and conduct joint raids; petition the border guard command to allow hunting inspectors and conservation groups into the border area, and to stop poaching there.

3. Prohibit the use of traps and the hunting of ungulates using dog packs in the leopard's habitat.

4. Develop a system of compensation for the loss suffered by deer farms due to the leopard, and to identify sources of financing for such compensation; invite leopard specialists and members of working groups to help settle conflicts, and to evaluate the degree of loss and to make recommendations on the fate of the predator.

5. Abide by the recommendations of Primorski Krai administration on the minimum acceptable density of the ungulate population when establishing quotas for ungulate hunting.

6. Demand that the administration of deer farms include in their economic and technical founding documents articles that provide for the protection and breeding of the leopard and other rare animals and plants on their territory, in accordance with the law; conduct a wide-ranging advertising campaign to attract public attention, both in Russia and abroad, to the task of protecting the Far Eastern leopard.

WWF Russia is hoping to unite Russia, China and North Korea to help protect the Amur Leopard. They have not written in the strategy where they will get their money from, most likely they will be getting it from the Russian government and WWF international. They are trying to organize guards to patrol their habitats to protect them from poachers. They are also hoping to create a group for the executives and basing them in the Leopards habitat so they can look over their habitat and coordinate guards patrol to protect the habitat and Leopards. They also want to use dog packs to find traps set for the Leopards and disable them. They need to find additional sources of income to compensate the deer’s that are being attacked by Amur Leopards. They have to follow the Primorski Krai administration when they are working out how many hooved animals there are in the region, until they can decide how many are allowed to be hunted. They need to advertise the Amur Leopard to increase public opinion of the species and get the community involved in protecting it.

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It is essential that we protect ecosystems from being destroyed by deforestation, pollution, mining, farming and invasive species. We need to protect ecosystems because ecosystems can filter water naturally, which helps local villages that live near these rivers, most of the air is very polluted and a lot of people is breathing the polluted air in, farmers struggle to make a living on inadequate land, and some countries are on the verge of famine because of the reasons above. Ecosystems are like a large machine where every organism has a role to play so the ecosystem stays healthy, but when the

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ecosystem changes in a small way it can have a drastic effect that will have an effect on every other organism in the ecosystem e.g. when wolves went extinct in Yellowstone park, every organism suffered except for the Elk because the growing population of Elk ate a lot of the vegetation. Ways to protect ecosystems is by using renewable sources of energy, recycling, using different resources to make paper and walk or cycle instead of driving. Using renewable sources of energy is better for the environment because it does not release carbon dioxide and other harmful gases in to the atmosphere; it is also cheaper than and more easily accessible than oil. Recycling is also good for the environment because waste at landfill sites releases greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere, the amount of trees chopped down decrease because we reuse old materials, and it takes a lot of energy to create the products from raw material. There are different materials that can be used to create paper like faeces and hemp. Faeces is a good substitute because it never runs out and animal faeces from zoos and farms can be used to make paper, hemp is also be used to create paper because it does not take up as much room as trees and it is more eco-friendly then destroying trees. Walking or cycling is also better for the environment because it reduces the carbon footprint of every one who does it and it is much cheaper to buy a bike instead of buying a car and paying for petrol and insurance. Pollution in the air is mainly caused by the industrial powers in the world i.e. China, USA, UK and many more. Since 2012, 34billion tonnes of carbon dioxide have been released in to the atmosphere and the UN has predicted that by 2050 the world’s population will be at least 9.6 billion, which means we could be producing an extra third of what we were producing in 2012 (because population was 6billion in 2012). This will affect the majority of ecosystems in the world becaus0e animals will not have as good air as we have now and because the planet is continually warming, it is possible lakes and rivers could dry up. This will result in the extinction of many species because they will not be able to cope with the changing ecosystems.

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References:

http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/tackling_climate_change/impacts_of_climate_change/climate_change_and_animals.cfm

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/amur_leopard2

Amur Leopard booklet written by Emma Websdale

http://www.altaconservation.org/assets/alta/pdf/documents_for_website/Leopard_reintroduction_plan.pdf

http://www.wwf.ru/resources/publ/book/eng/35

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http://peer.tamu.edu/curriculum_modules/Ecosystems/module_4/whyitmatters.htm

http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/importance.html

Picture references:

http://wallpaperich.com/image/2013/17/amur-leopard-1483-hd-wallpapers.jpg

Google maps

http://www.altaconservation.org/projects/population-monitoring/

http://files.amazingamur.webnode.com/200000017-39d513a538/food%20web.png

Contents

Amur Leopard background page 1

Global changes to ecosystem Pages 1-2

Threats to Amur Leopard Page 2

International Strategy Pages 3-5

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National Strategy Page 6

Why are Ecosystems important? Page 7

References Page 8