One of the world’s rarest big cats found badly wounded in the Far East of Russia

The two and a half year old feline was likely injured in a fight for a female, or in a territorial dispute, by a rival leopard, said experts of the Land of the Leopard Nature Reserve. 

Veterinary surgeons have been battling to save the cat’s life since the animal was shot with a tranquilliser two days ago, and rushed to a Rare Big Cats Rehabilitation Centre in the village of Alekseevka. 

The emaciated animal had multiple inflamed wounds on his chest, abdomen and neck, a broken front paw and muscle atrophy of the hind leg. 

The vets carried out surgery and started antibiotics treatment; the animal is still in a bad state, though he returned to consciousness. 

The type and size of injuries rule out an Amur tiger, bear or dogs as ‘suspects’, said the Far Eastern experts. 

One of the world's rarest big cats got wounded by another leopard. Pictures: Land of the Leopard Nature Reserve

The most likely attacker was another leopard with the argument being either over a female or territory.

‘The leopard would not have survived if it was left in the woods. During the surgery vets found fresh wounds and scars over old injuries, which means he was in a series of fights and was likely very weak by the time he got into the most recent argument’, said the rehabilitation centre’s zoologist Ekaterina Blidchenko. 

The Far Eastern (Amur) leopard is the world’s rarest big cat. 

These predators live exclusively in the south-east of the Primorsky region and on a small area in China close to  the border with Russia. 

The wounded leopard pictured during the medical check up, and after the surgery. Land of the Leopard Nature Reserve

The core population is under the protection of the Land of the Leopard Nature Reserve, established by the Russian government to seek to save the endangered species from extinction.  

Currently there are 86 grown up cats and 21 cubs and adolescents, according to photo trap monitoring. While the number is small, it is far larger than two decades ago, and the species is seen as slowly recovering yet it remains separately vulnerable. 

Around a century ago, these leopards populated all of the Korean peninsula and two provinces of China.