This National Endangered Species Day, Twycross Zoo is celebrating the global impact of its conservation work to help protect the critically endangered Amur leopard.

The leading conservation charity has supported a project to transfer Kira, a 5-year-old female Amur leopard, from Twycross Zoo to a new home at Memphis Zoo as part of an international breeding programme to help protect and preserve the species.

Kira was born at Twycross Zoo in 2016, one of four cubs born to Kristen, a 10-year-old female Amur leopard who arrived at the Zoo when she was two.

Kira is following in the footsteps of her three siblings, who now live across the globe as part of other international breeding programmes. Alexi, a male, lives in Estonia, Samara, a female, lives in Belgium, and Arina, also female, now lives at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Highland Wildlife Park and has recently become a mother herself.

The Amur leopard is currently listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is considered to be one of the most endangered big cats in the world, with less than 100 left in the wild.

Today, the last remaining wild populations of Amur leopards reside in China and the Russian Province of Primorsky Krai, between Vladivostok and the Chinese border. The species faces significant threats in the wild including prey scarcity, poaching and illegal trade. One of the major threats is habitat loss - with estimates that between 1970-1983, the Amur leopard lost 80% of its former territory through logging, forest fires and land conversion.[1] 

Dr Sharon Redrobe OBE, CEO at Twycross Zoo, said: “We’re delighted to work in partnership with Memphis Zoo to help protect and preserve the Amur leopard species, one of the most endangered big cats in the world. As a conservation charity, we’re incredibly proud to support a number of breeding programmes, both here in the UK and internationally, that are having a significant and tangible effect on species survival. It’s wonderful to see that the conservation work we’re doing here at Twycross, right in the heart of the UK, has a truly global impact.”

As a conservation charity, Twycross Zoo’s primary purpose is to preserve and protect the species with whom we share our planet. It is thanks to the ongoing support of the public that the Zoo can continue its vital conservation work.

Visitors to Twycross Zoo can discover more than 400 animals from 80 different species in 100 acres of outdoor space. To plan your May half term visit and buy tickets online, visit twycrosszoo.org.