A Leopard has been shot dead after attacking a policeman in the city of Ghaemshahr in Mazandaran Province, northern Iran, on Sunday 24 April 2022. The Animal had broken of the attack and fled the scene before being shot, but there were concerns that it could potentially attack other people. After being shot the Leopard was taken to a local wildlife centre in the hope that it could be saved and released in a sanctuary, but it died of its injuries before this could happen. The policeman is reported to be in a stable condition.
Persian Leopards, Panthera pardus tulliana, the subspecies found in Iran, and the only Big Cat now found in Iran following the local extinction of the Asiatic Lion and Caspian Tiger, are considered to be Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, with less than a thousand surviving in the wild. The majority of these are found in Iran, but smaller populations in Turkey, Iraq, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and possibly Pakistan, Historically, this subspecies had a wider range, extending into Syria and part of Russia. The species is threatened by hunting (now illegal across almost al of its range) and habitat loss, which brings it into conflict with Human populations, particularly herders, as its natural wild prey is replaced by domestic Sheep and Goats, which can lead to Leopard attacks on both livestock and Humans, with subsequent, usually lethal, retaliation towards the Leopards.
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