We want to make a contribution to an even more endangered big cat.'' With its distinctive black-spotted yellow coat, the Amur leopard looks much like its African counterpart. An exception is denser fur to protect against the Russian winter. Forest fires and poachers in Russia are reducing the number of the leopards' prey, causing the cats' birth rate to plummet. Birth rates today are about a quarter of what they were in the 1970s. Amur leopards, named after the Amur River in Russia's Far East, also are vulnerable because of their preference for deer as prey.
Many Russian farmers raise deer and are highly protective of their stock.
Yet the international conservation community has largely ignored the Amur leopard's plight. The Institute has launched a polished publicity campaign for its Siberian Tiger Project, including posters of actor Bruce Willis playing with a baby tiger. Leopard populations are thriving, or at least stable, in other parts of the world, and the cat is not perceived as highly endangered, making it difficult to generate interest in the Amur leopard, Miquelle said. Russian officials have other explanations, mainly that international conservation groups have favored Russia's tiger over the more endangered leopard because the tiger is more likely to yield a success story. Last year, a highly publicized census released by the World Wildlife Fund pegged the Siberian tiger's population at about 430 an encouraging comeback from levels of around 250 in 1985.