# Three-legged Persian leopard's 150-mile trek gives Caucasus conservationists hope

> An endangered Persian leopard named Aren is believed to have walked from Armenia into Georgia on three legs, offering rare encouragement to the small teams monitoring the species.

- Published: 2026-10-27 by Tickety-Boo News
- Section: Animals
- Location: Armenia and Georgia
- Web page: https://ticketyboonews.co.uk/stories/three-legged-persian-leopards-150-mile-trek-gives-caucasus/
- Original report: [Persian leopards hang on in the Caucasus despite landmines](https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/10/persian-leopards-hang-on-in-the-caucasus-despite-landmines) (Mongabay)

## In brief

- A three-legged Persian leopard named Aren is believed to have travelled about 240km from Armenia into Georgia.
- Georgia has recorded three sightings in 20 years and Armenia ten; the subspecies numbers fewer than 1,100.
- NACRES, a Georgian NGO with three staff, monitors the leopards alongside WWF despite thin funding.

A Persian leopard with just three legs is presumed to have travelled around 240 kilometres (150 miles) through cold, mountainous country, making his way from Armenia into Georgia. Scientists and conservationists have named him Aren, and they are keeping a close watch on him. It is believed he was injured by one of the decades-old minefields that still lie across the Caucasus.

Sightings of this endangered cat are few and far between. Over the past 20 years, Georgia has recorded just three, Aren among them, while Armenia has recorded ten. The subspecies, Panthera pardus tulliana, is down to fewer than 1,100 individuals.

Aren was first spotted in the Apra Protected Area in Vayots Dzor Province, in south-central Armenia. WWF, which has monitored leopards in Armenia for more than two decades, stepped in with cameras and expertise. His name comes from Areni, the village at the park's entrance, which is also the name of a grape the area is known for.

Journalist Kayleigh Long, who reported on his story for Mongabay, says the people tracking these cats are working on a shoestring. One of them, NACRES, was founded in Georgia in 1991 and is now called the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation & Research. It is a plucky outfit with a staff of three, led by zoologist Bejan Lortkipanidze.

Asked what he would do with unlimited resources, Lortkipanidze told Long he would set up a monitoring centre. He would also put education first, visiting villages and remote areas such as the Tusheti region to explain what to do on seeing a leopard. The aim would be to prevent retaliatory killings of leopards and other species.

Mines are not the only hazard. Thousands of kilometres of Soviet-era barbed wire still stand across parts of the region, and it can trap leopards, bears and deer.

Long nonetheless finds cause for optimism, both in the leopards' persistence and in the NGOs carrying on in increasingly difficult conditions since USAID's shuttering. She says she thinks "hope is a moral imperative".

## Why it matters

Persian leopards range across many countries, and in the Caucasus they must cross contested borders where old mines and fences still threaten wildlife. For an animal this scarce, a long journey by an injured individual is no mean feat, and it shows the species is still hanging on in the region. Monitoring is often the main protection on offer, so the work of a three-person team and its partners matters a great deal.