Forest fire threatens endangered Far East Russian leopards

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AFP) Oct 24, 2003
The last chances at survival for an extremely endangered species of rare Far East Russian leopard were further reduced when a fire destroyed one of the forests where they live, a local official for the WWF ecology group said Friday.

The fire broke out Thursday when people looking for scrap metal to sell emptied containers filled with napalm and other toxic substances they had found in a disused military field in the forest, said WWF official Pavel Fomenko.

The substances caught fire and destroyed a substantial part of the forest, a protected area where some of the last 30 remaining leopards live.

Part of the substances also filtered through the ground and now represent a major environmental hazard for the forest's wild life, said forest guard Anatoly Belov.

TERRA.WIRE