- Feature
Rare Persian Leopards Released Into Wild Near Olympic Town
For the first time, the Russian government reintroduced captive-bred animals into their native habitat—a nature reserve near Sochi—but their future is still unclear.
Sochi, RussiaOne by one, the three leopards emerged from their cages and moved lithely down the hill, away from the cameras and to the safety of the green canopy of the Caucasus Nature Reserve.
That moment, captured in July by Russian state TV, would be the last time they see humans—or so scientists hope.
Akhun, Killy, and Victoria became the first captive-raised Persian leopards released into the wild anywhere in the world.
Russia's Center for Reintroduction of the Leopard in the Caucasus, launched in 2007 as part of Sochi National Park, aims to bring the predator back to the Caucasus Mountains. It once roamed a great territory stretching from the foothills above the Black Sea in the west down through the northern Caucasus into
