Leopards still hanging on in Yemen. 28 October 2009 | News story
Two field trips were made to Yemen to look for signs of
remaining Arabian leopards, to train local scientists, and to
develop a national leopard survey strategy. Yemen is a key site
for conservation of the Arabian leopard because it contains a
large part of the species’ former range. The main obstacle to an
effective conservation programme is the lack of information on
its current status. December 2007 saw the launch of a
collaborative project between the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group,
University of Sana’a, Environmental Protection Agency in Yemen
and the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife, Sharjah
with a view to carrying out a rapid assessment survey of Wada’a
in the western mountains, and initiating a capacity-building
programme to ensure long-term sustainability of leopard
conservation within the country. In Wada’a, people have
traditionally captured leopards in stone traps and sold them to
zoos and private collections. The proje