Return of Leopards to Ossetia

RusHydro and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the RAS implement a joint project to restore the population of the Persian leopard (Caucasian leopard) in North Ossetia. The population was declared extinct in the territory of Russia in the 1950s. In historical retrospect, North Ossetia was a natural habitat for leopards.

In 2015 a Persian leopard was caught by surveillance cameras at Gizeldonskaya HPP. At that time scientists hypothesized that it was a migrating individual from Iran that had entered the territory of Russia. Repeated captures of the leopard in Ossetia in May and November 2017 suggested that this species permanently inhabits some areas of the North Caucasus.

The implementation of the project to restore the extinct population of the Persian leopard, or Caucasian leopard, has been carried out in North Ossetia since August 2017.

The project is a part of the federal leopard recovery program and includes scientific researches: studies of the food and competitive reserve of these animals, conservation activities and an environmental education program for the population. The project to prepare comprehensively the region for the reintroduction of the rare predator has no analogues in Russia. The Persian leopard (or Caucasian leopard) is the largest subspecies of leopard in the world and is included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the international IUCN Red list. Scientists estimate the number of Persian leopards in the world to be only between 870 and 1 300 individuals.

In 2018 as part of a joint project of RusHydro and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the RAS two unrelated individuals were released into the wild on the territory of the Alania National Park: a male Elbrus and a female Volna, in 2020 a male Baksan and a female Agura were released on the territory of the Turmont Reserve, and in July 2022 three individuals of rare Persian leopards (Caucasian leopards) were released: a male named Leo and twin sisters – Hosta and Laura. All the animals were bred in the Leopard Restoration Center in Sochi, where purebred leopards from different countries are gathered. Their offspring undergo intensive training to live independently in the wild. In the process they learn to avoid humans, settlements and domestic livestock, and acquire the skills to hunt independently.

The project to bring leopards back to Ossetia was recognized by the Russian Ministry of Energy as the best social and environmental initiative among FEC companies in 2018. RusHydro received the highest award in the annual contest of the Ministry of Energy – MediaTEC in the category "Environmental projects".