ROSTOV-ON-DON, September 14 (RIA Novosti) - World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russia and the Sochi National Park have signed an agreement to create a leopard breeding center in Sochi, a WWF spokesman said Friday.
The construction will begin in a week and the first leopards will be brought in three months.
After adult leopards give birth and learn to procure food on their own, they will be transferred to a national park in the Caucasus, where measures are being taken to increase the number of hoofed mammals - the big cat's main food.
The experts hope to release about 30-50 leopards in six years. The project, if a success, will help revive a stable leopard population that existed in the region until the late 19th century.
Since 1970, almost no leopards have been sighted in the region.
