抖阴短视频

It is one of the most beautiful, mysterious and symbolic animals ever to have graced the wild landscapes of 抖阴短视频, which it has done since time immemorial.

But the Arabian Leopard is also classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as 鈥渃ritically endangered鈥� 鈥� one step away from extinction in the wild.

Fewer than 200 are believed to exist throughout the Arabian Peninsula, with the largest confirmed surviving population found in Oman鈥檚 Dhofar Mountains.

In 抖阴短视频, the animal is feared to be all but extinct, driven to the edge by centuries of uncontrolled hunting, of both itself and its prey, and by the steady loss of suitable habitats as human development has expanded.

All that is beginning to change, however, thanks to a world-leading captive-breeding program that will return the magnificent animal to the wild.

So far, the Wildlife Research Center in Taif has successfully bred 16 leopards as part of an Arabian Leopard Program being managed by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU). The most recent birth of a cub was in April 2021.

The ultimate aim of the RCU through its program is to improve the Arabian leopard鈥檚 status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. To that end it is working in partnership with Panthera, a global conservation organization dedicated to preserving the world鈥檚 seven big wild cat species and the critical role they play in global ecosystems.

Eventually, the leopards will be released into the Sharaan Nature Reserve, which is being created by the RCU in the dramatic canyon landscapes east of the ancient rock-carved Nabateaen city of Hegra, an area that was the animal鈥檚 natural habitat for millennia.

鈥淲e believe that saving endangered species such as the Arabian leopard is critical to the protection of our planet and the natural balance of our ecosystem,鈥� said Ahmed Mohammed Al-Malki, RCU鈥檚 director general of nature reserves.

鈥淥ur goal at RCU is nothing less than to restore the power of nature's balance.鈥�

In February 2022 that commitment was acknowledged when the RCU was awarded government-membership status by the IUCN 鈥� an honor normally granted at state level, but extended to the organization 鈥渋n recognition of its commitment to conservation.鈥�

The announcement, said Amr AlMadani, CEO of the RCU, 鈥渄emonstrates the increasing international recognition that RCU, undertaking a project of immense scale, is a key player in global conservation.鈥�

RCU will now be able not only to draw upon the specialist knowledge of 18,000 IUCN experts, but also to share the results of its work in AlUla with a global audience of conservationists.

Dr Bruno Oberle, IUCN Director General, said RCU鈥檚 membership 鈥渨ill enhance IUCN鈥檚 presence in the region, and further strengthen the Union鈥檚 capacity to promote the good governance of the world鈥檚 natural resources and environment鈥�.

The leopard program is a flagship of a raft of green initiatives designed to restore and protect the balance of nature across the Kingdom. They build on previous successes, including the reintroduction of other threatened species and the designation of great swaths of the country as protected areas.

As part of the Saudi Green Initiative, announced in March 2021, rewilding initiatives are under way across the Kingdom, including the reversal of desertification across vast areas, the restoration of habitats degraded by livestock overgrazing, and a huge planned increase in the number and scale of protected areas.

The first protected conservation area in 抖阴短视频 was established in 1986: a 13,775 square kilometer reserve at Harrat Al-Harrah in the north of the Kingdom. Now it is home to a dazzling array of important animals, including the reem gazelle, Arabian wolf, red fox, sand fox, striped hyena, Cape hare, jerboa, houbara bustard and golden eagle.

Since the designation of Harrat Al-Harrah, 14 areas, totaling more than 82,000 sq km, have been awarded protected status. Under the auspices of the SGI, there are now plans to increase the area of protected land to about 600,000 sq km 鈥� more than 30 percent of the Kingdom鈥檚 total territory.

The plans set out under the Saudi Green Initiative also include the planting of 10 billion trees over the coming decades, resulting in a 12-fold increase in tree cover, equivalent to rehabilitating about 40 million hectares of degraded land.

As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said when he announced the initiative and its companion Middle East Green Initiative, this literal greening of the country will play a vital role in plans to 鈥渃hart a path for the Kingdom of 抖阴短视频 and the region in protecting the planet, by clearly defining an ambitious road map that rallies the region and significantly contributes to achieving global targets in confronting climate change.鈥�

As a leading global oil producer, he added, 鈥渢he Kingdom fully recognizes its share of responsibility in advancing the fight against the climate crisis. Just as the Kingdom underpinned energy markets during the oil and gas era, it is going to become a global leader in forging a greener world.鈥�

In that greener world, the Arabian leopard and other revived and protected native species will once again roam free.

The most recent evidence of the success of the Saudi leopard-breeding program arrived on April 23, 2021, in the adorable form of a female cub, the latest to be born at the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Wildlife Research Center in Taif.

The birth, said Al-Malki, 鈥渋s significant because it is one step further toward reviving the Arabian leopard.鈥�

Staff at the center were excited and relieved when the healthy cub arrived.

鈥淚 cannot describe my feelings when she was born,鈥� said Abdulaziz Alenzy, the RCU鈥檚 veterinary manager. 鈥淲e were expecting a cub to be born that day but when I got the call from the keepers, it was: 鈥榃ow.鈥� I got up, got dressed and rushed to work.鈥�

There are currently 16 leopards at the center 鈥渁nd we hope to increase the number by between 20 and 50 percent in the next two years,鈥� said Alenzy.

The breeding process, he added, is not easy. 鈥淲hen you introduce pairs to each other, sometimes they will fight and hurt each other, so we have to separate them and repeat the process,鈥� he said.

When the team is sure a leopard is pregnant, she is assigned a specific keeper who is responsible for monitoring her health, behavior and diet constantly until she delivers. The gestation period is between 95 and 100 days, and a leopard typically gives birth to between one and three cubs.

鈥淭he first 12 weeks are very critical in any cub鈥檚 life, so we try to avoid disturbing them and the mother, and leave her to take care of the cub,鈥� said Alenzy.

In the 13^th week, the team carried out a medical examination of the new arrival, confirmed its gender and began a course of immunizations.

鈥淲e were blessed with a female cub, which is a great thing for our program,鈥� Alenzy said. 鈥淭he cub鈥檚 general health was excellent, and her mother鈥檚 as well.鈥�

Thomas Kaplan, the founder of Panthera, said the birth of the cub was 鈥渁 moment of absolute, sheer joy.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭he news gave us the ability to transmit something which is key to every strategy, and that鈥檚 hope.

鈥淲hen you see that the system works, that you can breed these beautiful, iconic species so that the next generation can be secured in the wild, it proves to us that we can accomplish exactly what we鈥檝e set out to do.鈥�

The return of leopards to the wild is key to 抖阴短视频鈥檚 ambitions to protect and revitalize the country鈥檚 entire ecosystem, Kaplan added.

鈥淭he beauty about saving the big cats is that they stand at the top of the pyramid in terms of the food chain,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hink of them as the umbrella species or the apex predator, the iconic megafauna within its ecosystem.

鈥淚t is the representation of a healthy landscape 鈥� one-stop-shopping for wildlife conservation. In other words, if you want to save large landscapes, then the way to go about it is to focus on the top of the food chain, the umbrella species. And in 抖阴短视频, that is the leopard.鈥�

Through the designation of multiple protected areas, 抖阴短视频 has already enjoyed great success with the captive breeding and release of other endangered native species, including the houbara bustard, Nubian ibex, red-necked ostrich, Idmi gazelle and, most dramatically, the Arabian oryx. Kaplan cites the example of the recovery of the oryx population as a prime example of what can be achieved.

鈥淚f you want to understand where we're trying to go with the Arabian leopard initiative, just look at what conservationists have already achieved in the Arabian Peninsula,鈥� he said.

鈥淭he recovery of the Arabian oryx has turned out to be one of the most inspirational case studies for captive breeding and reintroduction of any species anywhere in the world, and one of the most powerful models we have for the successful reintroduction of the Arabian leopard itself.

鈥淓veryone involved in that program remembers when the first Arabian oryx was born in captivity. They had no idea that it was going to be as successful as it was. But we certainly do believe that with the births of the cubs that we鈥檙e seeing in Taif, we are seeing the first paw prints of the success of the Arabian leopard initiative.鈥�

By 1972 Oryx leucoryx, a species of antelope once common across the Arabian Peninsula and known in Arabic as Al-Maha, had been hunted to extinction in the wild.

After being bred from captive specimens, by 1982 the species had been reintroduced into the wild in Oman, and subsequently in 抖阴短视频 and the UAE. By 2011 the status of the species on the IUCN Red List had changed from extinct to vulnerable 鈥� the first time that a vanished species had made such a dramatic comeback.

Now, conservationists are on course to bring the Arabian leopard back from the brink in similarly spectacular fashion.

Over the past few years, researchers armed with camera traps have tried in vain to capture evidence of leopards in the wild in 抖阴短视频, but proof that the animals thrived there for thousands of years can be found in ancient rock carvings, or petroglyphs, scattered across the landscape.

In 2001 a local schoolteacher stumbled across hundreds of the petroglyphs on an escarpment overlooking a sand-covered wadi in a remote area about 40km west of the village of Shuwaymis in the Hail region of 抖阴短视频. 

It was a historic find and in 2015 the site was inscribed on UNESCO鈥檚 World Heritage List as part of the biggest and most significant collection of rock art in 抖阴短视频 and the wider region. 

There, among hundreds of illustrations of wildlife dating back as far as 10,000 years, were clear depictions of leopards, lions and cheetahs prowling what was at the time the verdant landscape of the Arabian Peninsula.

Such proof of the leopard鈥檚 long reign in Arabia also provides evidence of the abundance of many other species of wildlife that thrived in ancient times. Before the lakes and rivers dried up and the lush savannas of central Arabia were transformed into the deserts that cover much of the interior today, the land teemed with abundant prey, including gazelles, ibex, oryx and onager, a type of wild ass.

In 2013, researchers with the , a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, mapped and analyzed many of the rock-art panels at Shuwaymis.

They concluded that feeding a typical pride of about 13 lions would have required a herd of more than 160 onager, to allow the prey to breed and maintain its numbers. More than 70 mountain gazelles, they concluded, would have been necessary for the sustainable support of a single leopard.

As the rock art attests, Arabia鈥檚 big cats were still present in large numbers up until about 2,000 years ago 鈥� but time was running out for the lion, the cheetah and the leopard.

The Asiatic lion, panthera leo leo, is long gone from the Arabian peninsula and can only be found now in the Indian state of Gujarat. Once common throughout Arabia and Mesopotamia, in 抖阴短视频 it had been hunted to extinction by the late 19^th century.

Two of the last-known lions on record in the wider region were shot in 1914 by an Ottoman official near Mosul. Poignantly, they were killed close to the ancient city of Nineveh, where reliefs carved more than 2,500 years ago depict lions being hunted by King Ashurbanipal, who ruled the Assyrian empire from 668 B.C. until 631 B.C.

The cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, managed to survive a little longer in the region but now it, too, is no more in the wild, driven to extinction across the Arabian peninsula in living memory by uncontrolled hunting of the animal and its prey. Its fate serves to motivate those now charged with bringing the leopard back from the brink.

There are records of cheetahs in 抖阴短视频 and Kuwait until at least the late 1950s. In 1959 it was reported that four of the animals were killed in northern 抖阴短视频, close to the borders with Iraq and Jordan.

A solitary cheetah was spotted in Wadi Mitan in eastern Yemen, close to the border with Oman, in 1963. Another was reportedly shot dead near Jibjat in southern Oman in 1977. This remains the last known sighting of the animal in the Arabian Peninsula.

The Arabian leopard, panthera pardus nimr,  proved to be a little more resilient

It adapted successfully over thousands of years to the changing climate and increasingly arid conditions of 抖阴短视频, surviving the great desertification process that by 2,000 years ago was complete across Arabia.

In the end, however, like the lion and the cheetah before it, the leopard was unable to adapt to the evolution and expansion of the ultimate apex predator species: homo sapiens.

Historically, the Arabian leopard ranged over a large area of 抖阴短视频. Its heartland was in the mountains that border the Red Sea coast, from Jordan in the north to Yemen in the south, but it could also be found further east, as testified by the rock carvings in the Hail region.

According to accounts by early Western travelers, including English explorers Lady Anne Blunt and Charles Doughty, in the late 19^th century the leopard could still be found far inland, as far east as the provinces of Hail and Riyadh.

In her 1881 book, 鈥淎 Pilgrimage to Nejd,鈥� Lady Anne wrote: 鈥淥f wild animals, I have ascertained the existence of the ostrich, the leopard, the wolf, the fox, the hyena, the hare, the jerboa, the white antelope, and the gazelle in the Nefud.鈥� The Nefud is the great desert in the Hail region of northern 抖阴短视频.

In 鈥淭ravels in Arabia Deserta,鈥� published in 1888, Doughty reported that 鈥渙f the great predatory animals, most common is the thubba, hyena; then the nimr, a leopard, brindled black and brown and spotted.鈥�

In centuries past, as many as four sub-species of leopard might have roamed the Arabian Peninsula. Only one, Panthera pardus nimr, the Arabian leopard, remains 鈥� only just, and perhaps not at all in 抖阴短视频.

Reported sightings of the animal in the Kingdom were already rare by the 1960s. Of 19 sightings documented by researchers between 1998 and 2003, only four are considered confirmed.

At Jibal Shada in 1999, a dead goat was discovered that bore all the hallmarks of having been attacked and partially eaten by a leopard. At Al-Atifa that same year, and at Wadi Khatayn in 2002, tracks and other tell-tale signs of leopard activity were identified.

In July 2021 international outrage followed the circulation of photographs on social media of two leopards that had been shot dead in Lawdar, southern Yemen. The man, a farmer, claimed the animals had been killing his sheep. Although killing the animals is illegal in Yemen, officials admitted that bringing the man to justice in the war-torn country would be difficult. "Unfortunately," a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Authority told the media, "the protection of animals just isn鈥檛 a priority considering the chaos in the region at the moment."

The most recent confirmed sighting in the Kingdom was another unhappy one. Just when it seemed the leopard might have vanished forever from 抖阴短视频, a video of a dead animal was posted on YouTube in 2014. It had been killed unintentionally in the Wadi Numan area of Makkah by a farmer who had put out poison to kill wild dogs that were attacking his livestock.

鈥淣o one has the right to poison any animal, endangered or otherwise," said Ahmed Al-Bouq, general manager of the National Wildlife Commission at the time. 鈥淧eople should contact us or any other authority and we will take the necessary measures to protect both sides.鈥�

Since then, the leopard has not been seen in the Kingdom, dead or alive, despite determined efforts to capture evidence of the animal on camera.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we can say for certain that the leopard is extinct in 抖阴短视频,鈥� said biologist David Mallon, a visiting professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University and a member of the IUCN Red List Committee.

鈥淏ut over the past few years a lot of camera trapping has been carried out. This has been much intensified by the Panthera people, working with AlUla at a dozen sites over the past two years, but they haven鈥檛 found any photographs of the leopard.

鈥淪o the feeling at the moment is that it is almost certain that there are no extant populations, although there could still be the odd animal or two hanging on somewhere.鈥�

There are, he said, a host of reasons to ensure the leopard does not disappear for ever, 鈥渨hether it鈥檚 aesthetics, the moral issue 鈥� that we inherited this, therefore we should pass it on to future generations 鈥� or whether it鈥檚 about the overall health of the ecosystem.

鈥淏ecause if you want to have fully functioning, natural, dynamic ecosystems, you need all the levels in the food chain present, and the apex predator is the one that regulates the next ones down, and so on.

鈥淓ach animal contributes to an ecosystem and as soon as you disrupt that system in some way you can鈥檛 predict how the services it provides may also be disrupted.鈥�

Mallon, who in 2011 co-compiled the IUCN Red List assessment of carnivores in the Arabian Peninsula, has since completed a regional assessment of all the mammals of the Peninsula, which has yet to be published.

Overall, he said, 鈥渢he story isn鈥檛 entirely bleak. For the four large carnivores the picture remains terrible: the cheetah is extinct and the leopard, the wolf and the hyena are all in big trouble.鈥�

But for the ungulates 鈥� hoofed mammals such as the oryx, mountain gazelle, sand gazelle and Ibex 鈥� 鈥渢he picture is not quite so bad. There is a big improvement for the oryx and the two gazelles, with thousands now across the peninsula, and although listed still as vulnerable there are now quite a few ibex here and there.鈥�

In addition to the carnivores and these other large mammals, there are medium and small mammals, including three types of fox, 鈥渨hich to a large extent are data-deficient because not enough people study them,鈥� Mallon said.

What is known, however, is that attempting to understand and balance ecosystems is a complex business. For example, the success of the common, and highly adaptable, red fox 鈥� which is thriving everywhere, from cities in England to the deserts of Arabia 鈥� might be marginalizing the smaller Ruppell鈥檚 fox, which in 抖阴短视频 is increasingly retreating to the hyper-arid regions to which it is better suited than its rival.

In another demonstration of the fragile balance of ecosystems, the caracal population seems to be increasing in 抖阴短视频. On the face of it, this seems like good news, but it is happening as a result of a problematic phenomenon known as 鈥渕esopredator release.鈥�

鈥淥nce the big predators, such as the leopards and cheetahs, go, the medium-sized predators can expand because they鈥檙e not being preyed upon any more,鈥� said Mallon.

鈥淪o the caracal is possibly benefiting from the fewer numbers of leopards, and the foxes are possibly benefiting from fewer wolves and hyenas.鈥�

When this happens, ultimately no one benefits.

鈥淚f you lose an animal such as the leopard, it means your natural environment has lost something which has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, and so you鈥檝e lost a part of your own natural heritage,鈥� said Mallon.

Certainly, said Al-Malki, the RCU鈥檚 head of nature reserves, the Arabian leopard 鈥渋s an iconic species for us and very important in Arab culture.鈥� This alone makes it 鈥渆ssential to preserve it as one of the most important wild species in 抖阴短视频,鈥� he added.

The breeding program being overseen by the RCU at the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Wildlife Research Center in Taif, which was originally managed by the National Center for Wildlife, will ultimately be transferred to a new Arabian Leopard Center being built as part of the Sharaan Nature Reserve, the protected habitat, covering 925 sq km, where eventually the leopards will be released.

It is, said Al-Malki, entirely fitting that the leopard鈥檚 return will begin in AlUla, which was carefully chosen as the ideal location after an extensive survey of the area.

鈥淭he Arabian leopard was present in this area previously, and most areas of AlUla,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he ecosystem in this area has begun to recover in a very large way. Moreover, in cooperation with our partners at the National Center for Wildlife, we have re-released some important wild species that will be potential prey for the Arabian leopard in the future.鈥�

Once the leopards have been successfully reestablished in the Sharaan reserve, there are plans to reintroduce them to other parts of AlUla, followed by other areas of the country where they were once common, including the Asir, Hijaz and Midian mountain ranges in the west of the country

Panthera is performing a crucial partnership role to help the RCU achieve this vision.

In June 2016, during an open-air ceremony amid the stunning scenery of AlUla, Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al-Saud, the Saudi minister of culture and governor of the RCU, signed an agreement with Panthera chairman Kaplan in which the commission pledged to invest $20 million over 10 years to aid global conservation efforts for leopards and revitalize the Arabian leopard population.

抖阴短视频 is also now a member of The Global Alliance for Wild Cats, an international coalition of environmental philanthropists, founded by Kaplan and dedicated to protecting the world鈥檚 big cats.

Formed in 2014 by Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, in addition to representatives of the UAE and 抖阴短视频 the alliance now also includes members from China, India and the US, who have each pledged $20 million as the cornerstone of a $200 million global campaign to save wild cats.

After the 2016 ceremony, Prince Badr said the partnership represents 鈥渁 major milestone in our shared ambitions to reintroduce the Arabian leopard population in the region and join global partners to support the preservation of these wild-cat populations worldwide.鈥�

It is, he added, 鈥渙ur duty to protect, conserve and build the population numbers to preserve the species from becoming a footnote of history.鈥�

The RCU partnership with Panthera 鈥渨ill help ensure that populations in other countries around the world are preserved before they reach the levels of endangerment faced today by our precious native big cats,鈥� the prince said.

To this end, in 2019 the RCU established the Global Fund for the Arabian Leopard. With an initial endowment of $25 million it is the largest fund in the world wholly dedicated to safeguarding the species.

The Arabian leopard is the smallest of nine sub-species of leopard. Once widely distributed across Africa and Asia, populations everywhere are shrinking as a result of threats including encroachment by humans, diminishing habitat and prey, the illegal trade in wildlife, and hunting in response to the demand for ceremonial use of skins.

Globally, the leopard is classified as 鈥渧ulnerable鈥� on the IUCN鈥檚 Red List, with its numbers in decline. In Arabia, however, is it deemed to be 鈥渃ritically endangered,鈥� two steps worse off than elsewhere in the world.

Other carnivorous mammals in 抖阴短视频, including the caracal, sand cat and golden jackal, are also rated as vulnerable to one degree or another, but are expected to benefit from the renewed focus on protecting landscapes and crucial habitats.

In 抖阴短视频, Panthera researchers continue to work in the field in an attempt to determine exactly what, if anything, remains of the wild leopard population in the Kingdom and identify the greatest threats to its existence. They are also establishing the 鈥渃arrying capacity鈥� of the proposed Sharaan Nature Reserve, which means the number of leopards the protected area will be able to support.

鈥淏y establishing a long-term monitoring, conservation and breeding program for the Arabian leopard, including the successful reintroduction of leopards and their prey to Al-Sharaan Nature Reserve in AlUla, we will be able to accomplish saving the species in 抖阴短视频 as well as in all the areas of its previous range, which include not just existing populations in Yemen and Oman but also the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and even Israel,鈥� said Kaplan.

Working with the animals, however, is only part of the challenge.

鈥淚t鈥檚 fair to say that about 80 percent of the work that wildlife conservationists do is with people, not just the animals,鈥� Kaplan explained.

鈥淢ost important in the process of reintroducing big cats is to ensure the buy-in of local populations and one of the areas that we will be focusing on is to prepare the local communities for the re-emergence of the leopard.鈥�

To achieve this, the RCU has launched an awareness program that got under way on Feb. 10 with the inaugural Arabian Leopard Day, during which landmarks across the region were lit up and a competition was launched to name the latest cub born in the program.

The Arabian leopard, said Kaplan, 鈥渋s not a particularly dangerous animal to humans. Like most big cats, it鈥檚 much more afraid of humans than the other way around. They want to keep a safe distance, they want to be able to protect their cubs. That means avoiding those creatures with whom they are not particularly conversant as a species, and human beings fall into that category.鈥�

Nevertheless, inevitably there will be times when the paths of animals and humans cross.

鈥淢ost of the time, those instances will be entirely benign,鈥� said Kaplan. 鈥淥n occasion you will find that leopards will take livestock 鈥� the leopard is not very familiar with the concept of private property, or able to distinguish between that which is domesticated and that which is wild.

鈥淪o what we have to do is to make sure that the local communities who live with these animals are supported as much as the wildlife itself, and that they understand that there is a solution if there is a problem.鈥�

That solution is to guarantee that farmers will be compensated for any livestock lost to leopards, so long as they do not kill or harm the wild cats. 鈥淚n other words, they have to be able to see that there is no downside to the leopard coming back into their habitat,鈥� said Kaplan.

Panthera will also help communities to realize that 鈥渢here is a direct link between their prosperity, their future, and the fact that the leopard is being reintroduced,鈥� he added.

The opportunity to see leopards once again thriving in the wild will doubtless play a significant part in the development of AlUla region as a cultural tourism destination rich in archaeology, heritage and stunning landscapes. This will also create jobs for local people. The RCU said it is 鈥渨orking hand-in-hand with the local community鈥� and investing in 鈥渆ducation and learning for AlUla鈥檚 next generation, to create training and employment opportunities.鈥�

Panthera has had some experience of this. As part of a project to reintroduce the jaguar to the Pantanal region of Brazil, the organization bought ranches that connected national parks in the area and helped to improve the lives of the ranchers.

鈥淲e took them from living in dormitories and gave them individual homes so that their families, who used to have to live off the ranch, could now live with them on the ranch,鈥� said Kaplan.

鈥淢ore than that, we brought in doctors from Mount Sinai Medical Center who, as part of their residency, provided medical care to the communities that were not receiving the standard of care that they would have received in more urban areas.

鈥淢ost importantly, perhaps, we created schools. In other words, we were able to show the local communities that there was a direct link between our being there to conserve cats, and the fact that these people would have a better life for their kids, both educationally and health-wise, because of the conservation efforts.

鈥淥ur intention is to do the same in 抖阴短视频 in the vicinity of the Arabian leopard initiative program.鈥�

Legislation will also play a part in protecting the animals. The penalty for hunting leopards in 抖阴短视频 is SR 400,000 ($107,000), rising to SR 30 million for repeat offenses, and up to 10 years in prison. But ultimately, the most effective form of protection is winning the hearts and minds of local communities.

Such has been the success of the program in Brazil, Kaplan said, 鈥渨e have a joke: We can鈥檛 always ensure that a poacher doesn鈥檛 get in but because the local community sees the Jaguar as being part of its future, the poacher rarely gets out. And that鈥檚 good enough for us.鈥�

Leopards will not be seen roaming the majestic landscape of AlUla quite yet, however. 鈥淲e expect the first program to resettle leopards in Sharaan Nature Reserve by 2030,鈥� said Al-Malki.

If this target is met, the timing would be perfect; the AlUla project in its entirety 鈥� opening it up as a global tourism destination rich in natural and human history 鈥� is one of the cornerstones of the Kingdom鈥檚 Vision 2030 blueprint for economic diversification, empowerment of local communities and the preservation of the nation鈥檚 heritage.

鈥淪uffice to say,鈥� said Kaplan, 鈥渨e鈥檙e very confident that we will be able to reintroduce the leopards to their maximum carrying capacity and to that end we are already engaged in the restoration of habitat which has endured decades of overgrazing and other development issues.

鈥淲e鈥檙e also working with the local communities and working to restore the populations of ibex and gazelle that we need to be able to fully sustain the food cycle for the Arabian leopard itself.

鈥淚n the same way as the cultural restoration that鈥檚 taking place at AlUla is going to take a number of years, the environmental restoration is going to be an equally long process.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭here really are no shortcuts when it comes to captive breeding and reintroduction. You have to do it right and you have to do it right from the outset. What we can say for sure is that the Kingdom is doing it right.鈥�