MOSCOW CARGO HANDLED TWO LEOPARDS ARRIVING IN RUSSIA FROM SWEDEN

21/12/2020

Yesterday, the Moscow Cargo terminal handled two Western Asian leopards, an 8-year-old male Filou and a 9-year-old female Shiva, which were transported from the Swedish zoo Nordens Ark to the Leopard Recovery Center in the Caucasus. The transportation was organized with the financial support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF Russia).

The Moscow Cargo team did everything they could so that the predators could rest after a long flight, because the road to Sochi by car was still ahead of them. Less than half an hour after the aircraft landed, the leopards were delivered to the terminal and placed in a specially equipped area with noise insulation and controlled temperature conditions, where their physical condition was checked by a representative of the veterinary service. After completing the necessary paperwork, the animals were handed over to the consignee and, under the supervision of specialists, went to the Sochi National Park.

Now Filou and Shiva will join the breeding stock of the Leopard Recovery Center in the Caucasus, participating in a breeding programme with the aim of subsequent reintroduction of their offspring into nature. However, before that, they will stay in the quarantine enclosure for 30 days. Both leopards come from German zoos. Predators moved to Sweden in 2014 and have lived together almost inseparably since then. Their first offspring were also born at the Swedish zoo in 2016. The second replenishment of the family with a female occurred in 2019.

“Replenishing the Center with new leopards is very important for the Caucasus Leopard Recovery Programme,” says Dmitry Gorshkov, WWF Russia Director. - This delivery has been prepared for more than two years. The rotation of sires is the basis for ensuring the genetic diversity of the offspring released into nature. This will allow the formation of more pairs of unrelated leopards for release, which means an increase in the chance of having kittens in nature. "

The programme for the recovery of the Western Asian leopard in the Caucasus is being implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia with the participation of the Sochi National Park, the Caucasian Nature Reserve, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF Russia), the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories named after A.K. Tembotov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Moscow Zoo, with assistance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Leopards monitoring is carried out with the financial support of VTB Bank.