Just a few days apart, two Persian leopards Neo (male) and Nova (presumably, female) passed through the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge (CWR) environmental protected territories and got captured on the trail cameras installed in the area by the Foundation of the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC).
The foundation’s specialists assume, that Nova is a female and is most likely following Neo in search of a mate. This supposition is also supported by the fact that Neo and Nova leopards passed through the same migration route within only a few days from each other.
Such regular occurrences and continual footage of animals verify the importance and effectiveness of the work carried out on the privately protected areas such as the CWR, which provides connectivity between the state protected areas along the migration routes of leopards. Furthermore, the presence of leopards in the area indicates the availability of favorable feeding conditions and large variety of prey population such as Bezoar goat, European hare, European badger, Indian crested porcupine etc. According to IUCN Species Survival Commission/Cat Specialist Group, Persian leopard subspecies is listed as Endangered.
The protection and conservation of the CWR’s unique ecosystem, habitats, and biodiversity implemented by the FPWC. Our partners in wildlife monitoring are the World Land Trust, WWF-Belgium, U.S. Forest Service and Viva-MTS.
It should be noted, that most of the above-mentioned protected territories lie within the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict zone. Despite this fact, and thanks to the dedication and efforts of the organization’s professional rangers, the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets continues to successfully carry out its mission of protecting the refuge’s exclusive fauna and flora.
FPWC is hopeful that the environmental sphere in Armenia will eventually unite the local and International organizations for the benefit of the biodiversity conservation and, in particular, around the protection of the Persian leopard. Moreover, we believe that the RA Ministry of Environment should become that focal platform where the environmental scientific community would be able to finally being the cooperation.
The Caucasus Wildlife Refuge (CWR) encompasses around 30,000 hectares. It is the first privately protected area in the South Caucasus. The CWR is managed by Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife & Cultural Assets (FPWC) since 2011. Being the habitat of a number of southern Caucasian species, the CWR territory is of crucial importance. The refuge is a safe haven for many rare animal and plant species including the endangered Persian leopard. For years, FPWC has been has been successfully cooperating with the extended Vedi community of Ararat province.
