The Foundation team is thrilled to announce that at last an adult female Persian leopard has been safely captured and fitted with a satellite GPS collar in Tandoureh National Park.

Captured in a snare trap on the evening of 6 December 2015, the female was estimated to be around three years old, weighed in at 38 kg, and appeared not to have bred up to this point. The Foundation team had known of her in the same area since February 2015, but previous efforts to capture her failed. We decided to name this beautiful female “Iran”, a common name for Iranian ladies.

Since being collared, she has been patrolling around and GPS data are being successfully retrieved via satellite. Furthermore, an adult male has been detected showing signs of flehmen behaviour (inhaling orally with upper lip curled back) – an indication of readiness to mate in cats – when visiting places Iran frequents, raising hope that she may breed in the coming months.