Editing Leopard (section)

== Conservation ==
The leopard is listed on [[CITES Appendix I]], and hunting is banned in Botswana and Afghanistan; in 11 sub-Saharan countries, trade is restricted to skins and body parts of 2,560 individuals.<ref name=IUCN/>
In 2007, a leopard reintroduction programme was initiated in the Russian Caucasus, where captive bred individuals are reared and trained in {{cvt|0.5–0.9|ha}} large enclosures in [[Sochi National Park]]; six individuals released into [[Caucasus Nature Reserve]] and [[Alaniya National Park]] in 2018 survived as of February 2022.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Rozhnov, V.V. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Yachmennikova, A.A. |author3=Dronova, N.A. |author4=Naidenko, S.V. |author5=Hernandez-Blanco, J.A. |author6=Chistopolova, M.D. |author7=Pkhitikov, A.B. |author8=Tembotova, F.A. |author9=Trepet, S.A. |author10=Chestin, I.E. |year=2022 |title=Experience of the leopard re-covering through reintroduction in the Russian Caucasus |journal=Cat News |issue=Special issue |pages=67–71 |url=http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.14._SI_15/Cat_News_Special_Issue_15_Persian_leopard_FINAL.pdf#page=67 |access-date=2023-11-11 |archive-date=2023-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111083835/http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.14._SI_15/Cat_News_Special_Issue_15_Persian_leopard_FINAL.pdf#page=67 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Threats===
The leopard is primarily threatened by [[habitat fragmentation]] and conversion of forest to agriculturally used land, which lead to a declining natural prey base, [[human–wildlife conflict]] with livestock herders and high leopard mortality rates. It is also threatened by [[trophy hunting]] and [[poaching]].<ref name=IUCN /> Contemporary records suggest that the leopard occurs in only 25% of its historical range.<ref name=Jacobson2016/><ref name=Williams2017>{{cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=S. T. |last2=Williams |first2=K. S. |last3=Lewis |first3=B. P. |last4=Hill |first4=R. A. |name-list-style=amp |title=Population dynamics and threats to an apex predator outside protected areas: implications for carnivore management |journal=Royal Society Open Science |date=2017 |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=161090 |doi=10.1098/rsos.161090 |doi-access=free |pmid=28484625 |pmc=5414262 |bibcode=2017RSOS....461090W}}</ref>

Between 2002 and 2012, at least four leopards were estimated to have been poached per week in India for the [[illegal wildlife trade]] of its skins and bones.<ref>{{Cite report |author1=Raza, R.H. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Chauhan, D.S. |author3=Pasha, M.K.S. |author4=Sinha, S. |date=2012 |title=Illuminating the blind spot: A study on illegal trade in Leopard parts in India (2001–2010) |publisher=TRAFFIC India, WWF India |location=New Delhi |url=https://www.traffic.org/site/assets/files/4130/illuminating_the_blind_spot.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924143713/https://www.traffic.org/site/assets/files/4130/illuminating_the_blind_spot.pdf |archive-date=2020-09-24 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In spring 2013, 37 leopard skins were found during a 7-week long market survey in major Moroccan cities.<ref name=Bergin>{{cite journal |last1=Bergin |first1=D. |last2=Nijman |first2=V. |name-list-style=amp |year=2014 |title=Open, Unregulated Trade in Wildlife in Morocco's Markets |journal=TRAFFIC Bulletin |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=65–70 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267748463 |access-date=2015-03-23 |archive-date=2018-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031133219/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267748463 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2014, 43 leopard skins were detected during two surveys in Morocco. Vendors admitted to have imported skins from sub-Saharan Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bergin |first1=D. |last2=Nijman |first2=V. |name-list-style=amp |date=2015 |title=Potential benefits of impending Moroccan wildlife trade laws, a case study in carnivore skins |journal=Biodiversity and Conservation |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=199–201 |doi=10.1007/s10531-015-1042-1 |s2cid=34533018 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287807462 |access-date=2017-01-11 |archive-date=2020-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107220433/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287807462_Potential_benefits_of_impending_Moroccan_wildlife_trade_laws_a_case_study_in_carnivore_skins |url-status=live}}</ref>

Surveys in the Central African Republic's [[Chinko]] area revealed that the leopard population decreased from 97 individuals in 2012 to 50 individuals in 2017. In this period, [[transhumant]] [[Pastoralism|pastoralist]]s from the border area with Sudan moved in the area with their livestock. Rangers confiscated large amounts of [[poison]] in the camps of livestock herders who were accompanied by armed merchants. They engaged in poaching large herbivores, sale of [[bushmeat]] and trading leopard skins in [[Am Dafok]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Äbischer, T. |author2=Ibrahim, T. |author3=Hickisch, R. |author4=Furrer, R. D. |name-list-style=amp |author5=Leuenberger, C. |author6=Wegmann, D. |year=2020 |title=Apex predators decline after an influx of pastoralists in former Central African Republic hunting zones |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=241 |page=108326 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108326 |bibcode=2020BCons.24108326A |s2cid=213766740 |url=https://doc.rero.ch/record/328409/files/weg_apd.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003124917/https://doc.rero.ch/record/328409/files/weg_apd.pdf |archive-date=2020-10-03 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In Java, the leopard is threatened by illegal hunting and trade. Between 2011 and 2019, body parts of 51 Javan leopards were seized including six live individuals, 12 skins, 13 skulls, 20 canines and 22 claws.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Gomez, L. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Shepherd, C.R. |year=2021 |title=The illegal exploitation of the Javan Leopard (''Panthera pardus melas'') and Sunda Clouded Leopard (''Neofelis diardi'') in Indonesia |journal=Nature Conservation |volume=43 |issue=43 |pages=25–39 |doi=10.3897/natureconservation.43.59399 |doi-access=free |s2cid=233286106}}</ref>