Endangered Arabian leopard’s hopes of survival get a boost

posted on 25/01/2009: 93 views

Crouching behind a rock, Hector, a four-year-old Arabian leopard, eyes onlookers suspiciously.

Three months after arriving at Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort, he is still a little shy around visitors.

Hector was born in captivity at the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife in Sharjah. So far, his contact with humans has mostly been limited to a keeper and veterinary staff.

If he settles well in Al Ain, Hector's caretakers plan to bring in a female leopard from another centre in the Middle East for him to breed with. The park is the newest member of a network of facilities in the Middle East dedicated to boosting the endangered Arabian leopard population by loaning each other animals for breeding.

The long-term aim of the facilities, which include a wildlife resort in Saudi Arabia, two in Yemen and another in Muscat, is to reintroduce the species to safe areas in the wild.

A senior official at the Al Ain park said staff tried to make sure Hector's new home resembled the natural environment and landscape of his original habitat.

"They are from hilly areas historically,” he said. "They once lived here at Jebel Hafeet and in the north of the UAE, some areas of Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.”

Hector has already been taking interest in his new home and seems to be slowly gaining confidence.

"Before he was hiding all of the time but now we see him walking around the area,” said the official. "He collects his food from the rocks and takes it into the back room, usually, to eat it.”

There are only about 250 wild Arabian leopards remaining in the Arabian Peninsula, and none in the UAE. Some reports suggest there may be some still living in Oman's Musandam region.

Light in colour and weighing less than its African and Asian cousins, the Arabian leopard preys on mountain goats, foxes and other mountain-dwelling animals. The animals need large areas to hunt for food.

Kevin Budd, assistant operations manager at the Sharjah breeding centre, said the breeding programme began in 1997 with three leopards and has grown to 23.

"The captive breeding programme is a security blanket in case the wild population deteriorates to a point where it becomes extinct,” said Mr. Budd.

Hector is in for a long stay at the centre, as it is far too early to consider releasing him back into the wild.

"Being large predators the animal would have to be able to make the transition from captive to wild,” Mr. Budd said.

"To be released in the wild would take five to 10 years of slowly breeding them to become progressively wilder, with less human contact.”

Another challenge is that there is nowhere in the Middle East to release the animals. The reason they are endangered "is due to a loss of habitat, hunting, poaching and farming”, said Mr. Budd. "Until there is an area where it is felt it would be safe to release the animal, which is big enough to support the number of animals, where you know they would not be shot and hunted, it would be pointless to release them.”

Even if the animals are successfully bred in captivity, hand-rearing the cubs can prove tricky.

"You need experienced keepers,” Mr. Budd said. "It is a very specialised field. Obviously the ideal is for the female to rear her own cubs, but if the environment is stressful she is less likely to do that, so then it comes down to the expertise.”

Female Arabian leopards usually have two cubs and raise them for two years. And if Hector seemed a little wary, Mr. Budd explained he comes by it naturally.

"It is a live predator and they are aggressive,” he said. "Normally in the wild they are solitary with males and females only coming together to mate, usually in the winter with cubs being born 98 to 100 days later.” – The National

RELATED ARTICLES