The Foundation team visited the site where a herd dog had reportedly been killed by a leopard at the request of our national partner, Khorasan Razavi Department of the Environment. Located at a local fisheries facility in Dorbadam Protected Area, the dog’s carcass was visited over a few consecutive nights by a leopard which was thought to be an adult in its prime.

However, photos taken by local nature fans revealed a remarkable journey, from Tandoureh National Park to the depredation site, a straight line distance of some 30 km. The leopard – in fact a very old male – had been previously photographed in Tandoureh by our camera traps in July 2015, so we were able to identify him from his rosette patterns, which are unique to each individual. Going against local requests to capture and remove him, we decided that the leopard should not be subjected to such an intervention as this was his only known depredation in the area. Nevertheless, we had to consider that leaving the dog carcass where it was could encourage the leopard to stay around for a longer period, which might result in its death at the hands of illegal local hunters.

The Foundation experts therefore recommended that the carcass be removed from the immediate vicinity of the fisheries facility to discourage the leopard from returning. We also had to come up with further intervention measures in case the leopard did become a problem, as well as being prepared to undertake the fairly intensive monitoring needed to obtain information locally about other conflict situations that might arise. Fortunately, after the carcass was removed and placed elsewhere, the leopard took the kill to a hiding place and then left. Two months later no report of further conflict had been received by the local rangers.