Up close and personal with leopards

11:13pm Friday 15th February 2008

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A vet from Keighley is getting up close and personal with one of the rarest big cats on earth in a desperate bid to save it from extinction.

There are only 30 Amur leopards living in the wild in their native east Russia, and Dr John Lewis is spearheading a drive to kick-start a breeding programme.

But a fear that a congenital heart murmur may be contributing to the leopards dying out means that scientists have to come up with new ways of studying them without anaesthetising them - which could add to their heart problems - so Dr Lewis, of Keighley-based Wildlife Vets International, is planning to face the big cats armed with nothing more than a stethoscope.

He said: "We aim to breed about 200 leopards in captivity but these animals must be fit. They will be reared in Russia and their offspring, who will be familiar with the Russian conditions and more fit, will be released." But it was crucial to discover whether the murmur was caused by animals being sedated or was a natural defect.

So he is working with zoo keepers in the UK to train the leopards to take a heart test without being knocked out. He said: "If I had to get in with these animals without sedating them, it would end badly for me.

"The idea is to encourage them to stand close to an area of the cage where there is a panel through which we can take the test.

"We have been given three stethoscopes which will be used by the keepers to familiarise the animals with an instrument touching their chests."

He would then use a more advanced piece of equipment to take the main test.

His "gut feeling" was that the murmur was a natural phenomenon linked to the leopards' fitness.

Dr Lewis has just returned from an eight-week visit to Russia where alongside other conservationists, he managed to capture two wild leopards and check their health. Both exhibited heart murmurs.

There are only 120 Amur leopards in European zoos. Their demise is linked to logging, forest fires and poaching.

Wildlife Vets International, which is based in Keighley Business Centre in South Street, is a charity and receives no Government funding.

It is backed by the BBC's Spring and Autumn Watch programme presenter Kate Humble and television vet Steve Leonard.

Donations can be made on line at justgiving.com/wvi or by post to Wildlife Vets International, Keighley Business Centre, South Street, Keighley, BD21 1AG.