ST. PETERSBURG — Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov suggested creating a joint nature reserve with China to help prevent the extinction of the Amur leopard.
“We have sent our proposals to China,” Ivanov, in charge of a state-sponsored program to save the Amur leopard, told the Russian Geographical Society on Saturday.
Ivanov said the leopards’ habitat has halved in the last 20 years with only 30 to 35 remaining in the Russian Far East and about 10 in neighboring China and North Korea.
Ivanov outlined some of the measures, including construction of a $100 million railroad tunnel under a hill where leopards live so that the wild cats can roam freely.
(Reuters)