Hunt for killer of rare leopard
Print Edition
An extremely rare Amur leopard has been killed in China and police are searching for the suspected trapper.
The leopard is listed as “critically endangered” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List, one category below “extinct in the wild.”
Global conservation organization WWF on its website estimates the population in China at between just seven and 12, with another 20 to 25 in Russia.
The female leopard was found after two men were caught transporting its carcass out of a forest in China’s northwestern Shaanxi Province by van last Friday, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
Gao Jinlong, the wildlife protection chief in the city of Yanan, said the leopard was the first of its kind to be seen in the province in decades, Xinhua reported. “We’ve heard rumors of a leopard here for many years, but never found any solid evidence,” Gao said.
“It’s a great shame that the rumors were finally verified with the bloody truth,” Gao said.
Police found the leopard’s body and a steel wire trap inside the van on Friday night.
One of the men, the suspected trapper and killer of the animal, fled the scene but the other was apprehended.
China placed the Amur leopard under “top grade national level protection” in 1983.
Earlier this month, police detained a man over the death of a rare Amur tiger discovered in the back of an SUV.
Conservationists say the use of animals in traditional Chinese medicine as among the reasons for rise in poaching.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
