29 March (BNS)

Estonia's Tallinn Zoo is planning to broadcast the birth of Amur leopard cubs over the internet this year, the daily Eesti Päevaleht reported. Offspring is expected from the Amur leopards Darla and Fredi, residents of Estonia's Tallinn Zoo, this spring. Like last year, people will be able to view the birth of the cubs live via the internet. Mati Kaal, director of the zoo, said that the Amur leopard cubs should be born in the first days in April.

Kaal said that getting progeny in captivity from Amur leopards was an extremely rare occurrence in global terms. "Only about fifty Amur leopards survive in the wild and it is possible to see them in very few zoos. The number of zoos where they produce offspring is much lower still," he said.

It is possible to watch the infrared camera picture transmitted from Darla's den via the internet address www.digisilm.ee, www.loomaaed.ee and www.tallinn.zoo and to be abreast of the respective news and comments at the Facebook address Amuurikate LIVE.

In Darla's first litter in 2008 she bore three cubs and last year two cubs, who were given the names Hasan and Hanka. Their birth and growth was watched by 1.75 million people all over the world.
Kaal said that Darla and her offspring had a very important role to play in saving the Amur leopards from extinction.

During the 20th century the area inhabited by Amur leopards drastically contracted. Although at the beginning of the century the Amur leopard was a usual resident of the southern part of Primorye in Russia, three isolated populations were gradually established of which only one population of about 50 individuals has remained. One of the reasons for the contraction in the population is poaching.