in that particular town. In 2016, with finan-
cial support from the local Heshun govern-
ment and SEE Conservation Fund (Society,
Entrepreneur, Ecology), the CFCA initiated
a larger programme called “Buy Me a Steak.”
The programme aimed to raise money for
compensation for village households who lost
livestock to leopards in the mountain area. In
2016, a total of 40,000 yuan (US$5,800) was
issued in compensation for leopard attacks.
In the meantime, a local volunteer group
named “Old Leopard Team” composed of
five villagers from Mafang was set up by the
CFCA in 2015 to assist with on-site conser-
vation efforts as well as evaluating damage
caused by leopard attacks. Wei Shuanbing
is a member of the team. According to Wei,
once a month, the team heads into the mountain area, checking cam-
era traps of wildlife images or spotting illegal poaching activities. The
CFCA pays each member a monthly salary of 500 yuan (US$72.50).
The team has set up a direct reporting channel with the local nature
reserve and forestry bureau as well as township government, thus once
any illegal activity is spotted, a team member can call forestry police
to attend.
Through years of efforts, the CFCA has identified almost 20 indi-
vidual leopards through hundreds of images captured by camera traps
around Heshun. The local Shanxi government is also very enthusiastic
about setting up a scientific database for the research of leopards in the
province, so as to upgrade the area to a national nature reserve with
better financial and academic support in the long term. Shanxi Pro-
vincial Forestry Bureau has invited academics to conduct a study of
the leopard population in certain areas and, so far, camera traps have
been installed in a much wider region that covers 15 nature reserves
in the province.
Fortunately, the preliminary study results indicate that the leopard
population in Shanxi remains stable.
However, the positive trajectory might be temporary and any policy
changes could result in an end to the remaining leopard population.
Shanxi is famous for its rich coal resources. Mafang town in particular,
according to Fan Xinguo, a local official, has been included on the
list of the country’s strategic coal reserve areas for its huge amount of
surface coal. “Once the coal mining industry starts off someday, the
environment will be completely ruined,” said Fan to Sanlian Lifeweek
in May 2016. If the protection efforts are in vain, the leopard’s last
habitat would fast disappear.
Ambitious Plan
The primary obstacle for the preservation of the North China leop-
ard lies in insufficient study of the species inside China. China has
cultivated a sound basis of public wildlife protection awareness for
some more “charismatic” species such as the
giant panda or Amur (Siberian) tiger. How-
ever, public recognition for the leopard in gen-
eral in China is a completely different picture.
The on-going pilot project of China’s Amur
tiger and Leopard National Park in north-
eastern China aims to maintain the integrity
of the habitat. The two species’ situation is
similar, and so avoiding the fragmentation of
its habitat, and restricting industrial develop-
ment is crucial. “The harmony of the coexis-
tence of humans and wildlife requires human
interference to be within certain levels,” said
Song Dazhao to Beijing Science and Technol-
ogy News during an interview in September
2016: “research has indicated that when the
area of farmland exceeds a certain level inside
the habitat, the tiger will not live there.”
This April, the CFCA launched a new programme called “Bring
Leopards Home,” aiming to restore the continuity of natural habitat
along the Taihang Mountain range, rewilding it for the leopards and
allowing their free movement along the whole range. The ideal pic-
ture, according to Song, is where a leopard can roam freely along the
Taihang Mountain range from Shanxi to Beijing, or south to Henan
and Shaanxi.
Researcher Liu Yanlin of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, who
focuses on snow leopard conservation told ChinaReport recently that
case studies from India and South Africa have proved that leopards
can survive in areas densely populated by humans. The Taihang
Mountain range is one of the best-protected regions in northern
China, he says, and the comparative scarcity of human settlement in
the range allows a high possibility for ecological recovery. “The biggest
two challenges ahead are whether illegal poaching can be contained
in the Taihang Mountain region, and whether construction work in-
cluding road and real estate development can be soundly planned.
The results all depend on the attitude of the local government and
general public towards the preservation of this subspecies,” Liu re-
marked. “The Taihang Mountain range could and should be the last
wilderness for the North China leopard.”
For decades, wildlife preservation methods in China have focused
on two aspects: one is the mainstream preservation of existing habi-
tats, for example the cases of the giant panda, snow leopard and Amur
tiger. Second, the recovery of some species with small populations in a
limited area, such as the successful revival of the Asian crested ibis. In
Liu’s opinion, the CFCA’s plan of “Bring Leopards Home” is very am-
bitious in recovering the Chinese leopard population across a wider
range of its historical distribution area.
“If the goal could be reached by joint efforts of the government and
the public, it could be viewed as a milestone in China’s wildlife preserva-
tion history,” Liu concluded.BeijingShanxiHenanHeshunHebeiTaihang MountainTaihang Mountain range