Northeastern Iran is a hotspot for human-leopard conflict, with many cases of leopard depredation on domestic animals, and retaliation by people. However, this time both leopards and humans were lucky.
Rangers were called in that a leopard is chased by shepherd dogs. Upon arrival, the leopard was seen surrounded by a few dogs, although barking, but were not trying to kill the animal. Fortunately, the leopard managed to escape.
Depredation on livestock often leads to the retaliatory killing of leopards throughout its range, making it one of the main threats to its survival. In 2014, we had to capture an old leopard from the same area, after killing 15 dogs and attacking three people in the same area. The leopard was translocated to a rehabilitation center in Tehran.