Driver spots big cat at side of busy road, alerts police, and young male is tranquillised.

The hungry feline terrorised a village snatching and eating guard dogs in Aleksey-Nikolskoye, even forcing scared children to miss classes.

At this rate, the species could be extinct in 6 years, according to latest shocking figures - but are the predators really in such jeopardy?

'Influential businessman' Evgeniy Romanov, 52, avoids jail, despite a host of other 'trophies'.

Distressed leopardess killed - then ate - her cubs caught in illegal loop-trap.

Rescue effort underway to provide emergency feeding sites for the helpless animals, with the wild boar population also in trouble.

Across the Russian polar regions, these eye-catching pictures show how thawing soil leads to territories being washed away.

Hope for future of the rare species as census says there could be as many as 540 of them now living in the Far East.