Bleak future for survival of Arabian leopard

At a meeting of the Qatar Natural History Group last week, David Stanton, the founder and Executive Director of The Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen, gave a presentation on the Arabian leopard and the threats to its continued existence in the wild. The speaker, who is an adviser on wildlife conservation to the Yemen Minister of Water and Environment, discussed the efforts to prevent the extinction of this iconic animal, and the factors that make the work so challenging. Stanton said that, worldwide, the nine recognised subspecies of leopard are the most widespread of the big cats, but are also the most heavily persecuted and are rapidly declining. They have vanished from at least 40% of their historic range in Africa, and from more than 50% of their historic range in Asia. The Arabian leopard is the rarest of the leopard subspecies.According to the IUCN there are fewer than 250 adult animals, but Stanton considers that the number is considerably fewer, maybe as low as 100. If he is right then this makes the Arabian leopard 30 times rarer than the Bengal Tiger, and from 65-70 times rarer than the Snow leopard. Given that the last record from Western Yemen was 2005 and from the last record from Saudi was in 2007, It is perfectly possible that the Arabian leopard is now extinct in Western Arabia and in every country that it formerly inhabited except for Oman, Yemen, and Israel.The Arabian leopard is the most genetically distinct of the leopards, he continued, and is also the smallest. A large male is about the size of a German shepherd dog, averaging between 22 and 34kg in weight. African leopards average at least twice that mass, with 75kg for a large male not uncommon. The Arabian subspecies has a relatively long tail and is narrow at the shoulders and hips, with paler fur than that of other leopard subspecies and fewer rosette markings. Their ranges are huge, anywhere from 500 to 1000 square kilometers depending on the quality of the habitat. Other species living in a richer habitat can get by with only 5-15 sq km.One or two cubs are born following a gestation of around 100 days and they stay with the mother until they are about 16 months old. In approximate order of preference the leopards prey on: Nubian Ibex, Arabian Gazelle, Cape Hyrax, Cape Hare, Porcupines and Partridges.Foxes and other small carnivores might be eaten, and during lean times, Arabian leopards can survive on small rodents such as Jirds, reptiles including the dhub, and even locusts and other insects.“The reason for the near extermination of the Arabian leopard is simple,” said Stanton. “There are too many people. This is true worldwide, and wildlife in every habitat is suffering as a result. Overpopulation results in habitat destruction.”“Yemen,” he went on, “has more civilian-owned guns than any other country in the world except for the US, and in the unlikely event that somebody sees a leopard, the odds are that he will be carrying a gun and it is a virtual certainty that he will try to shoot it. But the main problem is the widespread and totally unregulated hunting that occurs in Yemen.In the absence of their natural prey, leopards will inevitably kill livestock and this inevitably leads to retaliatory killing of leopards.“The last confirmed record of an Arabian leopard from anywhere in Saudi Arabia was in spring 2007 when two were found poisoned. A wild Arabian leopard has no economic value. If it did, people would think preserving them was important and finding support for the work and people to do it would be easy.”Stanton said that he started raising money specifically for the study of leopard conservation in 2007, and in the same year, through the publicity he gave it, the Yemen Cabinet declared the Arabian leopard as the national animalSadly, there was a lack of follow-up on the part of the government, and by December 2008 Stanton decided to quit his job as a school teacher and take on the conservation of Arabian leopards in Yemen as a personal responsibility. He recruited a board of trustees and organised fund raising, approaching corporations and groups and publicising the plight of the Arabian leopard in the local and international media.But, he pointed out, life is difficult for so many people in Yemen that few have any interest in environmental issues. Convincing hungry, unemployed people that preserving a predator is important is almost impossible.The Foundation recruits and trains people to carry out field research. Some are village people with very little education, but as a result of their training they are now doing good fieldwork and earning decent salaries. Camera trapping is the most enjoyable and rewarding activity, not only in the hope of recording leopards but also to gain an estimate of the populations of prey species.On January 11, 2011 the first pictures of a wild Arabian leopard ever taken in Yemen were captured, and a different animal photographed in February and again in May. All these were in an area where it was believed that the Arabian leopard was extinct. A scent lure is used to get the leopards to trigger the camera – Chanel No.5 proved irresistible! The Foundation’s goal is to ensure a sustainably managed population of wild Arabian leopards living in harmony with local communities in Yemen. But the goal has not so far been reached because, without at least a tenfold increase in resources and a much larger workforce of trained conservationists, the researchers can only begin to assess the leopard population in Yemen. Until this is done it is impossible to properly monitor it. However, with very limited resources the Foundation has created a group of committed field workers who have gathered data that includes more than 5,000 images of dozens of bird and mammal species, generated new records for some regions, and, most importantly, has proved the persistence of one of the world’s rarest mammals in an area where it was thought no longer to exist.Of equal importance is the fact that unemployed college graduates taken into the Foundation’s workforce are now trained field workers with impressive CVs, some important scientific discoveries to their credit, and a firm commitment to careers in conservation in a country where conservation is not afforded the importance it deserves. Along with these are a barely literate subsistence farmer living a hand to mouth existence when recruited.Now his skills as a field researcher are growing, and he is generating important field data in one of Yemen’s Key Biodiversity Areas – Jebel Milhan. The son of a leopard trapper is doing the same thing in another area. “The future for the survival of the Arabian leopard is the wild looks bleak,” said Stanton.“Oman is doing what it can but the remaining population of leopards is probably too small to ensure enough out-breeding for them to survive there in the long term. Yemen is crucial to the survival of the Arabian leopard as a wild animal, but it is a poor country with a lot of other priorities. In spite of the fact that Yemen is known to be a key range state for the Arabian Leopard, that we have proven their continued existence there, and have demonstrated determination and tenacity in the fact of many challenges, our work continues to be marginalised.“Tragically, we are talking about the almost inevitable extinction of Arabia’s rarest and most charismatic mammal.”The visit of David Stanton to Qatar was sponsored by the Rayyan Natural Mineral Water Company.