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Endangered Leopard Found Living in Moscow Apartment Building

This was not the first sad leopard story to feature among the Russian headlines in recent days.

Moscow authorities have seized an endangered leopard that had been living in the basement of a Moscow apartment building, a few blocks from metro Polezhayevskaya.

Police and officials from the city's environmental management department raided the premises on Friday evening after receiving a tip from the Natural Resources Ministry, Interfax reported.

The leopard, whose species is listed in Russia's "Red Book" of near-extinct animals, has been taken to a shelter and treatment center just outside the city, in the Dmitrovsky District.

"The leopard is doing well," a representative of the Natural Resources Ministry told Interfax.

Authorities have launched a criminal case into the illegal acquisition and trafficking of an "especially valuable" wild animal, the report said. The culprits face up to five years in prison and a million-ruble ($27,900) fine.

This was not the first sad leopard story to feature among the Russian headlines in recent days.

Last Thursday, investigators in the far-eastern Vladivostok announced that a suspected poacher faced seven years behind bars for allegedly poaching a "critically endangered" Amur leopard and then attempting to sell its pelt.

See also:

Russian Poacher Faces 7 Years in Prison for Killing Rare Leopard

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