An Endangered Species...

Endangered?

The Anatolian Leopard was classified as a critically endangered species by the 2000 IUCN Red List which was published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

The near extiction of the

Anatolian Leopard is due

almost entirely to trophy

hunting...

"The Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) of Turkey, Syria, and northern

Lebanon is one of the largest-- maybe the largest- of all the leopard subspecies and is almost extinct. Heinrich Mendelssohn, in a 1990 issue of Cat News, stated that this cat was still

relatively common in Galilee in northern Israel in the 1920s and '30s, but the last specimen, a

very old male, was killed in 1965 before nature conservation became effective in Israel. Anatolian leopards may still survive in Turkey, but local biologists estimate that the population is probably too small to breed." (quoted from- Big Cats: kingdom of might by Tom Brakefield and Alan Shoemaker)

In Turkey, throughout the 20th century numerous leopards were caught in tiger-traps and killed by buck-shots. After World War I, hunting leopards for a trophy was a favourite sport and activity in Turkey. In May 1937, the first hunting regulation classified leopards and tigers as hazardous animals who were a danger. Hunters were allowed to kill them at all times. Thereafter hunters proudly posed with their pelts and dead bodies for cameras. Hasan Bele, one of the known hunters of that time, made his mark having killed 15 leopards between the years 1930 and 1950. "Known as Mantolu Hasan, the 'Robed Hasan', he draped the pelts of his kills over his shoulders like pelerines. His ruthless killing only ended when İsmet İnönü, then President of the Republic of Turkey, awarded him a new shotgun on the strict condition that under no circumstances he should attempt to aim his gun at a leopard any more." (source 3)

*(It is also known that Romans used the Anatolian Leopards as circus animals in earlier years.)

Due to the frenzied hunt at that time, the Anatolian Leopard is a critically endangered

species with an estimated population of less than 250 adult individuals; its population having decreased at

least 80% in ten years when an investigation was done before 2002.

Originally, in previous reports, it was believed that this species of leopards was completely extinct. However,

people have lately been claiming that they have seen leopards in the mountains of Anatolia. Although these

leopards are not extinct, as previously believed, the Anatolian Leopard still remains in grave danger.