Leopard

Sri Lanka leopard deaths prevalent in region where humans and big cats overlap

COLOMBO — The mist-covered tea estates, forest patches and mountain valleys of Sri Lanka’s hill country support some of the country’s most important leopard populations outside protected areas. Yet the same landscapes have emerged as the deadliest places for the threatened big cats of Sri Lanka. A new study analyzing 17 years of leopard mortality […]

Mongabay · 6/11/2026

Animal welfare violations swarm Miami zoo owned by ex-drug kingpin in Tiger King

Endangered snow leopard had leg amputated and capybara died at Mario Tabraue’s controversial roadside facility An endangered clouded leopard had a leg amputated and a capybara died following botched breeding attempts at a controversial Miami roadside zoo owned by a convicted drug trafficker featured in the Netflix documentary Tiger King. Federal wildlife inspectors found multiple other violations during a March inspection at Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF), including dilapidated, insecure or unsafe housing conditions for wild animals, filthy cages, and water and food contaminated with algae and dead insects. Continue reading...

The Guardian Environment · 5/30/2026

In Kyrgyzstan, a climate-ready corridor gives snow leopards and herders room to roam

Snow leopards haunt the rocky ridgelines of Central Asia, vanishing into terrain so rugged that researchers rarely catch more than a brief glimpse on camera traps. Locals call them “ghosts of the mountains.” Their elusive nature, paired with the remote landscapes the cats inhabit, make them notoriously difficult to count. An estimated 3,500 to 7,500 […]

Mongabay · 5/22/2026

In Thailand, burned sugarcane plantations become traps for leopard cat cubs

Nuntita Ruksachat, head veterinarian at the Khon Kaen wildlife rescue center in northeastern Thailand, holds up a feline cub no larger than her hand. Part of a litter rescued just days ago, the cub’s fur is patchy, revealing blistered skin underneath. Its whiskers, clearly singed, are short and stubby. “They were rescued from a burned […]

Mongabay · 5/15/2026

Endangered Persian leopards persist across borders, despite hunters and landmines

Last September, zoologist and conservationist Bejan Lortkipanidze received a video file from a collaborator, Zurab Gurielidze, the head of Georgia’s Tbilisi Zoo. Gurielidze offered no details, but told his friend to “just watch.” For several moments, Lortkipanidze saw nothing remarkable — just nighttime footage of a high fence topped with razor wire. Then a leopard […]

Mongabay · 5/15/2026

New study explores how reforestation could help Java’s leopards survive

Reforestation done right could be key to helping rebuild habitat connectivity for Javan leopards on an island with one of the highest human densities on Earth, a new study says. It frames strategic forest restoration — linking up fragmented patches of forest to create contiguous corridors — as offering a rare pathway to balance rapid […]

Mongabay · 5/13/2026