WCS 3-Sentence Science

Disease Risks for Translocating the World’s Most Endangered Big Cat

December 26, 2019

CREDIT: JULIE LARSEN MAHER/WCS

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS’s Dale Miquelle on disease risks for translocated Amur leopards.

1. Researchers used disease risk analyses for translocated Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis) and identified a total of 98 infectious hazards, and 28 non‐infectious hazards.
2. They undertook a generic assessment of stress on individual leopards using canine distemper virus (CDV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), and found that many potentially expensive screening procedures could be performed prior to export of leopards, putting the onus of responsibility onto the zoo sector, for which access to diagnostic testing facilities is likely to be optimal.
3. To reduce the chance of disease transmission, there was emphasis at all stages on record keeping, meticulous planning, design, staff training, and enclosure management, which are relatively financially inexpensive.

Study and Journal: “Assessing the health risks of reintroduction: The example of the Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis” from Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
WCS Co-Author(s): Dale Miquelle, WCS Russia Program

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.