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Amur leopard enclosure off-show to visitors
Amur leopard
Amur leopards had been illegally hunted for their coat and other body parts for the trade in traditional medicine.

Facility will allow the cats to raise cubs away from humans

A new facility that will be home to two of the world’s rarest big cats has been unveiled at RZSS Highland Wildlife Park.

The facility, which encloses a large part of natural highland habitat, will accommodate a female and a male Amur leopard.

Keepers say that the enclosure will be off-show to visitors, to allow the cats to produce and rear cubs that are not familiar with humans. As such, this would make the cubs suitable for the Russian reintroduction project.

“If our leopard produce and rear cubs this year, we could be in a position to return cats to Russia by mid to late 2018, which is very exciting as our approach will dramatically abbreviate the reintroduction process,” commented Douglas Richardson, head of living collections at the park.

“Our Amur leopards will never be on show to our visitors but we hope to create an information hub that will explain all about this exciting conservation project and hopefully educate people about the plight of these animals.”

Focussing on cold weather species, RZSS highland Wildlife Park has had notable breeding success with an array of threatened carnivores. The introduction of male Freddo from Estonia and female Arina, born at Twycross Zoo, intends to build on that success.

Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, Amur leopards had been illegally hunted for their coat and other body parts for the trade in traditional medicine.

The releases are due to take place in the Lazovsky Nature Reserve in Southern Sikhote Alin, an area that is now completely devoid of leopards. It is not understood what caused extinction in this area, but experts say that circumstances have improved and there has been an increase in prey.

With improved conservation, organisers behind the Russian reintroduction project expect to see an increase in the present population in the wild from 70 animals to approximately 90 animals in 15-20 years. 

Image (C) RZSS Highland Wildlife Park.

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Vets to run marathon for World Animal Protection

News Story 1
 Two recently graduated veterinary surgeons will be running the London Marathon in April to raise money for the charity World Animal Protection.

Alex Bartlett and Maeve O'Neill plan to run the race together if they are given the same start times.

Dr O'Neill said: "You're always limited in what you can do to help animals, so it is nice to raise money for a charity that helps animals around the world."

Dr Bartlett added: "I have never run a marathon before and am excited to run my first one for such a good cause!"

Both Dr Bartlett and Dr O'Neill have fundraising pages online. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
BSAVA releases new Guide to Procedures

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) has published a new edition of its Guide to Procedures for Small Animal Practice.

It has added four new procedures; cystostomy tube placement, endotracheal intubation, point-of-care ultrasound and wet-to-dry dressings.

BSAVA says that it is an essential step-by-step guide to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed in practice. The textbook includes new images and illustrations, as well as high-definition videos for use prior to procedures.

Nick Bexfield and Julia Riggs, editors of the new edition, said: "We have built upon the success of the previous editions by responding to the feedback received from the BSAVA readership, and hope this new guide helps to further increase the confidence and accuracy with which these procedures are performed."

Print copies are available in the BSAVA store, with a digital version in the BSAVA library.