Today the number of Far Eastern leopards is not more than 50 animals. The death of even a small number of them due to the outbreak of an infectious disease could endanger the whole leopard population. To anticipate and prevent potential danger, the Biology and Soil Science Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Far Eastern branch in cooperation with the Leopard Land National Park and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is monitoring the Far Eastern leopard habitat for dangerous diseases.

The Far Eastern leopards live close to settlements and hunt dogs frequently. They have contact with wild cats, foxes, wolves and raccoon dogs that can be carriers of lethal diseases, easily transmitted from domestic to wild animals and vice versa. In 2000 canine distemper hit the north of the Primorye Territory. This virus, transmitted by wild dogs, killed one-third of the lion population in East Africa in 1998.

"The aim of the research is to identify infectious diseases and their transmission that can endanger the leopard population in the Primorye Territory," said Nadezhda Sulikhan, researcher at the Biology and Soil Science Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Far Eastern branch. "For these purposes we collect domestic cats' and dogs' blood samples in the Khasan and Nadezhdino districts that are not far from the Leopard Land National Park. The samples are tested for infectious and parasitic diseases including canine distemper, dirofilariasis, babesial and other diseases. The analysis of the infection rate among domestic animals will help assess the risk for leopards to catch these diseases and prevent an epidemic among them."

Research of this kind is not common in Russia and is being carried out for Far Eastern leopards for the first time, which is undoubtedly an important step in global leopard conservation.