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A recent census of the Far Eastern leopard revealed that only some 34 of the cats are left in the wild in the territory of Primorye and adjoining China showing that the rarest wild cat remains on the verge of extinction, environmentalists from the Vladivostok-based Far Eastern branch of WWF Russia announced on Wednesday voicing the census results.

The cooperative census, performed in February and March by World Wildlife Fund ecologists in Primorye and China, showed that the leopard population has not shown any considerable increase since 2003 when the previous census was performed, a statement from WWF reported.

During the census, the Russian environmentalists tracked the leopards within the 5,000-square-meter area of the cat’s habitat in southern Primorye, while the Chinese ecologists monitored the animals in the north of China. The specialists logged the animals’ tracks in the snow and examined their parameters, determining the wild cats’ age and sex. The Chinese ecologists managed to track only one animal in the Hunchun Nature Reserve in China.

“The census proved that the leopard’s population is on the brink of extinction,” the statement quoted Pavel Fomenko, coordinator for the biological diversity conservation program of WWF Russia, as saying. According to him, poaching, fires and the uncontrolled cutting of wood in the leopard’s habitat are only a few factors hazarding the cat’s population in Primorye.

A national park should be created in the territory of the leopard’s habitat in southern Primorye to preserve them from extinction, Fomenko stressed.

Announcing good news, the ecologists said that at least four litters of the leopards were found, which shows the population is still capable of rehabilitation. However, the ecologists said, for the long-term preservation of the cats a minimum of 100 individuals are required as well as returning the leopard population to the Sikhote-Alin, a mountain range in Primorye and Khabarovsky region, which was once the leopard’s habitat.

The Far Eastern leopard census is carried out every three years. The latest census in 2003 revealed a very low population of the wild cat in Primorye, with only 30 leopards registered.

The Far Eastern leopard resides in southern Primorye, with the animal’s habitat mostly in the Khasansky and Nadezhdinsky counties. The Far Eastern leopard population has not seen any increase in the past few decades.