Police in northwestern China are investigating whether a rare snow leopard found dead on Saturday was hit and killed by a motorist.
Municipal authorities in Golmud, a city on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai province, said the male leopard was found dead on a mountain highway on Saturday. Tyre marks bearing traces of blood were also found at the scene.
The local grasslands bureau said the police were “investigating and verifying” the cause of the accident.
It added: “If any illegal behaviour is found, it will be severely cracked down on in accordance with the law. In view of the frequent activities of wild animals in this area, we urge drivers and passengers to drive carefully and avoid wild animals crossing the road.”
A witness who reported the snow leopard’s death to police told Sichuan Radio and Television that there were seven to eight bloody footprints around its body.
Snow leopards are a protected species and there are around 5,000 of them living in the wild in China, according to state news agency Xinhua. Of these 1,200 – around a quarter of the total population – are in Qinghai.
Snow leopards are listed as a “vulnerable” animal on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. The conservation group estimates that there are just 7,500 to 8,000 snow leopards remaining in the world.
