Research overview: disease risk to the Amur leopard

For a population as small as the Amur leopard's, infectious disease poses a potentially catastrophic risk, as a single outbreak could affect a large fraction of all wild individuals. This overview surveys research on disease threats, particularly canine distemper virus, which has been documented in big cats including in the region and which can spill over from domestic dogs and wild carnivores. Studies assess exposure, the pathways by which pathogens reach leopards, and the heightened vulnerability conferred by low genetic diversity. Researchers consider surveillance, vaccination of domestic dogs around leopard habitat, and contingency planning as mitigation. The overview frames disease as an insidious threat that, unlike poaching, can strike suddenly and invisibly, underscoring why monitoring and a geographically separate insurance population are conservation priorities. It illustrates the special fragility of recovered but still tiny populations to stochastic shocks beyond habitat and hunting pressures.