This is Bao, one of our Clouded leopards here at the zoo. We want to help protect Clouded Leopards whose biggest threat, aside from habitat destruction, is being poached for their fur and body parts that are sold on the black market for traditional Asian medicine. Sadly, carnivores such as the Clouded Leopard, are often the most targeted animal.
The Clouded Leopard Working Group (CLWG) are working hard to tackle conservation from many different angles, including a community-driven approach, which seeks to support and empower local communities that surround Clouded Leopard habitat. This includes training local residents to dismantle snares left by poachers, patrol areas and collect data that could be vital in understanding more about numbers of Cloudies.
This training, coupled with the CLWG’s work on increasing livelihoods that aren’t related to wildlife poaching, means that the human neighbours of the Clouded Leopard can end up being their biggest defence.
£1000 can train four anti-poaching units to monitor Clouded Leopard habitat and protect not only them, but also other cat species that may be at risk of being poached, such as the Asiatic Golden Cat and the Marbled Cat.
The team at the Clouded Leopard Working Group are visiting the UK on March 20th and we’d love to present them with a cheque to help meet their conservation goals.