Capture of rare leopard raises criticism in the Kurdistan Region

Variety 01:18 PM - 2022-01-08

A wildlife protection expert criticized the method of capturing a rare leopard in Duhok governorate, calling on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to support efforts to conduct a new surgical operation for it.

The authorities captured a rare leopard in one of the mountainous villages of Duhok. The leopard's leg was injured and had to be amputated from a trap that was set by a shepherded whose sheeps were killed by the wild animal.

In an exclusive statement to PUKmedia, Hana Redha, a Kurdish expert in wildlife protection, criticized the media for handling the news of the leopard’s capture, stressing that the investigations were absent in the circumstances of the animal's capture and the authorities relied only on the statements of a shepherd though laws prohibit the use of traps or hunting wild animals, especially if they are rare and exposed to extinction.

According to instruction No. 1 of 2021, related to hunting in the Kurdistan Region, the penalty for killing tigers is 10 million dinars, and as for setting traps, it is prohibited according to the same instructions, because the presence of these wild animals affects the ecological balance.

Redha said: "The method of capturing the rare leopards contradicts all the practice in the world, as it included the gathering of military forces and citizens in pursuit of the animal. Activists on social media also circulated the process of capturing the tiger which also included the use of dogs, which is another violation because tigers fear dog attacks.

The veterinarian, Suleiman Tamer, who performed the amputation operation for the leopard, said that the animal was 5 years old and weighed 100 kilograms.

The expert in the field of wildlife protection indicated that all the circumstances that accompanied the tiger’s captivity are not civilized or scientific, noting that the investigations into the trap owner’s claim that the tiger killed 25 of his sheeps need accountability and follow-up by the competent authorities.

Hana Redha pointed out that the operation to capture the leopard in this painful way is the first of its kind and that the media should not be allowed to cover the news however they want, but rather rely on one statement published in all agencies.

She also criticized the shepherd who set the trap saying that he should have informed the official authorities before acting individually.

She also revealed that efforts are currently focused on bringing in an expert from Armenia who specializes in performing surgeries for tigers, because the captured leopard needs another operation, calling on the KRG to cooperate.

The leopard was a Persian leopard which are a panther sub-species native to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Caucasus.

They are extremely rare and have been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Fewer than 1,000 are believed to exist in the wild, with another 200 in captivity.



Reported by Majid Muhammad
PUKmedia 

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