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With the change of climate, increased pollution, demolishment of the houses of animals, or all of these – we realize that several species of animals are becoming endangered and then extinct. Basically, extinction means no longer existing, completely dying out, or vanished. According to a comprehensive report, up to 1 million plants and animal species go extinct within decades mostly due to human activities. A lot of rare species of animals become endangered with the passage of time as people hunt them down or they fail to adapt to their environment, which is not a very pleasant thing to observe. When it comes to the zoos or overall environment where animals live, the conditions are quite alarming, and there is often little or no positive news in this matter.
Similarly, the Formosan Clouded Leopard is also known to be one of the most rarest species that had not been seen for thirty years, after which it was declared to be possibly become extinct, in 2013. However, some of the residents reported seeing the Leopard after which several experts were bound to think that probably the Leopard isn’t extinct at all, unlike mentioned earlier.
The Taiwan News also reported having seen the leopard a lot of times, by southeast of the country hunting for goats.
The people of the Alangyi Village have rangers guarding their areas, since last June. Moreover, while on duty, some of the rangers reported having seen the leopard, also called “Li’ uljaw” by the Paiwan.
A professor, Liu Chiung-hsi, from the National Taitung University’s Department of Life Sciences and the ecologist is sure that the leopard has not been extinct. It didn’t come off as a surprise to him because he is aware that these Leopards are very sharp-eyed and intelligent so their rare and usual sightings aren’t a very big deal.
Professor Liu decided to probe further into this case in the late 1990s and upon talking to some of the hunters of that area, the hunters admitted that they have been hunting the animals, occasionally. The people did not want to violate Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Act and this is why they even burned the bodies too.
The rare species animals such as that of the Formosan Clouded Leopard hold quite a lot of importance for the native community. So whenever scientists want to further find out about the presence of these leopards, they will be inquiring about it from the tribal people of the area to maintain their level of respect for the people and the areas that they live in, since living at a place for such a long time make them the most aware about it.
Last but not the least, we’d encourage our readers to always take care of their surroundings and make sure that none of the animals is being harmed as they are the beauty of our earth and should be kept safe! Let us know what did you think about the article, down in the comments section below.
