For leopards, deer farms are points of conflict. These operations appeared years ago as government-run economic ventures. Now thousands of hectares are fenced. Farmers saw off deer antlers in velvet and sell them by the kilogram to be powdered and marketed in Asian pharmacies. The farms make an important, stable economic support for many communities.
Predators strike more often, as deer poaching and overharvesting outside the farms reduce wild prey.
Tracked Svetta through snow where she and her cub had hunted Manchurian hares. Found two temporary dens, rock outcrops where both leopards bedded in dry leaves. Picked up raccoon dog tracks where the animal dove into hole under boulder to escape Svetta. Then, it appears, while she was digging out snow from around the rock, the raccoon dog broke from the opposite side and was killed almost instantly by the leopard. In the first winter after we captured Svetta and Ooglati, Jack Whitman returned to his job in Alaska.