Living with Persian leopards - An extraordinary co-existence

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Wildlife
- Close
- - We protect wildlife in Britain and around the world by bringing our most threatened species back from the brink of extinction. We do this through ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Wild places
- Close
- - Some habitats contain such a richness of life that we need to protect them at all odds. We are working to preserve ancient woodlands, orchards and wood pastures and parklands, as well as the countless species they support.
What we do
- Close
- - Everything we do is based on scientific evidence. We gather this through surveys, which you can take part in, and by awarding research grants to the most inspiring scientists worldwide. This evidence guides our conservation efforts and is shared through our events and publications.
Who we are
- Close
- - People’s Trust for Endangered Species was set up in 1977 to save our wildlife. We are governed by a board of volunteer trustees and our team of staff are passionate about protecting endangered species and places.
Success stories
- Close
- - We strive to bring our most threatened species in the UK and around the world back from the brink of extinction. Our successes come from ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Get involved
- Close
- - There are so many ways you can help save endangered species. Fancy taking part in a survey, joining us on a wildlife event or becoming a regular supporter?
Shop
- Close
- - Support our work in our shop with a range of charity gifts, home-ware, cards and more. 100% of the profits go directly to help wildlife both in the UK an overseas.
Donate
- Close
- - There is nothing natural about the alarming rate at which we are losing animals and their homes. It is absolutely avoidable. We can stop the loss of our wildlife – but we need your support. You can act now by choosing to give to our cause. Thank you.

Home // News // Living with Persian leopards – An extraordinary co-existence

We’ve been funding Mohammad Farhadinia and his team in Iran since 2013. Their work has been a pioneering effort to understand conservation needs of Persian leopards, to apply novel and practical solutions to resolve the conservation problems and to raise the awareness for leopard conservation in Iran, and abroad.

Face to face

In mid-December 2019, a short film went viral on social media; a Persian leopard was filmed on top of a truck by a driver face to face with the animal. The leopard, seemingly a young female, was curiously investigating the truck, while the driver was excited to film a leopard from a distance of no more than 2 meters.

The place was part of a huge mining complex, located along Iran-Afghanistan border, which is nowadays more famous for this amazing leopard, than its massive coal reserves. Since then, the leopard has been repeatedly seen by people and miners, raising the concern of what do we do with the leopard?

Taking precautions

The Future4Leopards Foundation has been closely working with local authorities and law enforcement officers. They make sure that the coexistence between the leopard and humans will not end up in causality for either side while keeping an eye to apply any necessary intervention when needed.

Over the past 4 months, although the leopard has injured two people in a rather self-defense manner, the leopard is commonly seen in the area. Interestingly, the urial wild sheep also exist in the area, even though the area is not designated as protected area. The mining company has remained committed to protect wildlife and has removed most of dogs to prevent the leopard killing dogs.

So far, several training sessions have been organised for miners and workers living in the area, while educational signs have been put in place. The situation is also closely monitored to take any additional actions in case needed. Nonetheless, this has been undoubtedly an incredible example of coexistence in an area which has been massive altered by human activities.

Learn more about this project:

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