In mid-December 2019, a short film became viral in social media; a Persian leopard was filmed on top of a truck by a driver face to face with the animal. The leopard, seemingly a young female, was curiously investigating the truck, while the driver was excited to film a leopard from a distance of no more than 2 meters.
The place was part of a huge mining complex, located along Iran-Afghanistan border, which is nowadays more famous for this amazing leopard, than its massive coal reserves. Since then, the leopard has been repeatedly seen by people and miners, raising the concern that what do we have to do with the leopard?
The Future4Leopards Foundation has been closely working with local authorities and law enforcement officers in order to make sure that the coexistence between the leopard and humans will not end up in causality for either side, while keeping an eye to apply any necessary intervention when needed.
Over the past 4 months, although the leopards injured two people in a rather self-defence manner, but the leopard is commonly seen in the area. Interestingly, the urial wild sheep also exist in the area, even though the area is not designated as protected area. The mining company has remained committed to protect wildlife and has removed most of dogs to prevent the leopard killing dogs.
So far, several training sessions have been organized for miners and workers living in the area, while educational signs have been put in place. Also, the situation is closely monitored to take any additional actions in case needed. Nonetheless, this has been undoubtedly an incredible example of coexistence in an area which has been massive altered by human activities.