In light of Saturday's International Leopard Day, we need to raise an urgent question: How long can we "celebrate" an event that now marks a countdown to the day these majestic creatures go extinct and become a thing of the past?
Across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, leopards have lost nearly 75% of their natural habitat. Leopards that are still born in the wild are also threatened by the brutal poaching that is all too rife in the region. Meanwhile, those bred in questionable facilities solely exist to be traded like commodities across the world -- alive or their body parts used as trophies, luxury items or traditional medicine.
If you can't get a tiger, you go for a leopard -- the growing international demand in Southeast Asia for tigers has led to other big cats, like leopards, paying the price for their popularity.
This convergence shows that leopards are increasingly being targeted by poachers, breeders and wildlife traffickers. It has been reported that some tiger bones, teeth and other body parts that are traded do in fact not belong to tigers but to other big cat species.
All this happens systematically, organised and with little repercussions for the traders due to weak international law enforcement and a lack of binding commitment for countries across the world.
According to the Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) database, 12,000 leopards and their parts were traded between 2020 and 2023 alone. Given that leopards are already at the brink of extinction and receive the strictest protection under Cites, this number is highly concerning.
Within the international network behind the commercial big cat trade and despite international scrutiny, one country plays an alarmingly important role in this exploitative industry: South Africa. It is one of the world's largest exporters of big cats and their body parts. Lax and ineffective legislation has led to the country becoming a central hub for intensive captive breeding of big cats, fuelling both legal and illegal trade. Four Paws has been uncovering and revealing the exploitation of big cats in South Africa through its "Break the Vicious Cycle" campaign since 2021.
Four Paws urges governments across the world to end the commercial breeding and trade of all big cats. Only this would allow a crackdown on illegal trafficking and on legal loopholes that are currently being exploited. As a global community it must become evident that the protection of leopards and all big cats can only happen through a shared moral commitment to protect these endangered animals from extinction. We cannot allow big cats to become extinct just because of the greed of a few.
At Four Paws, we campaign against the exploitation of big cats and provide sustainable long-term solutions for heavily traumatised and abused big cats we rescue from private keeping, circuses or conflict zones. The animals we rescue get a second chance at a species-appropriate life in our sanctuaries, which follow the highest international animal welfare standards.
At Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in South Africa, which was opened in 2006, leopards Mike and Tulani are among the most senior residents with very different pasts. Before they arrived in 2006, Tulani was born in captivity on a safari farm and sold as a cub, while Mike was captured from the wild and kept as a pet. The leopards quickly found comfort in each other's company. Since then, nearly 20 years have passed and the now "senior couple" are still spotted lovingly helping each other with grooming their fur or sunbathing together.
Their story is a rare one in a world where leopards are more likely to end up in cages, on walls or in medicine jars. Together, we can end this cruel suffering. But only if substantial, aligned actions are being taken as a global community against political inaction, inconsistent country laws and profit-driven gruesome exploitation.
Vanessa Amoroso is Head of Wild Animals in Trade at Four Paws -- a Vienna-based animal welfare organisation.