Hi Friends,
Enjoy watching this video from a fundraising event for the Persian leopard. This video was shot by reporter Bree Steffen of Spectrum News. Thank you Bree!
Hi I'm Andy Blue and I will be traveling to Iraq in February 2025 to help improve the living conditions of an injured leopard in a zoo in Kurdistan, Iraq. This rare Persian leopard in the video below was caught in a leg trap in the wild and suffered for 10 days before being brought to the zoo for treatment. Sadly, the injury was too severe to save the leg and it had to be amputated. The leopard cannot return to the wild and currently is housed in a small, cold enclosure with a concrete floor (as shown in the video above). The goal is to raise money to provide the leopard with hiding areas, raised platforms, and enrichment as well as hiring staff to assist with enclosure renovations. While the local veterinarian is doing the best he can for this leopard, there is a severe lack of funding to provide this leopard with an adequate enclosure. Without your help, the leopard faces an uncertain future. (It is estimated that only 20 to 25 Persian leopards remain in the wild in Iraq.)
While visiting the zoo I will also instruct staff on the importance of proper animal welfare and enrichment practices to lessen any stress animals experience within enclosures. Additionally, I am bringing an assortment of much needed supplies* for domestic animals including de-wormers, vaccines, supplements, antibiotics and much more. The resources to provide these supplies for animals is lacking in this part of the world so any donation you can make to purchase supplies will be gratefully appreciated. Thank you!
*Supplies include donations from Pala-Tech Laboratories and the San Diego Humane Society.
From this enclosure to this one below. Thank you Andy for making this happen. And thank you for helping the other animals in Kurdistan.
UPDATE ON KURDISTAN TRIP
Hi All,
Thanks to everyone for your generous donation to the trip to Kurdistan, Northern Iraq. We were able to renovate the leopard's enclosure (as seen above in the video) and secure a transfer for him out of the country. This will take some time and he will most likely end up at a sanctuary in Europe. We also implemented enrichment examples for bears, wolves, lions, tigers, and hyenas at the zoo.
We vaccinated dogs, puppies, and horses at refugee camps with Iraqi displaced people from the ISIS war in Mosul.
We visited a Yazidi school for orphans from the ISIS war and taught them about Kurdistan wildlife. The children seemed to enjoy the presentation.
Lastly, I gave a presentation on animal welfare and enrichment needs at the zoo in Duhok. The presentation was attended by Kurdish veterinarians.
Thanks again. Your donations made a tremendous improvement in animal welfare in Iraaq.
Andy
Funds also used to treat sick animals like this donkey.
Puppies being vaccinated. Your donations helped make this possible.
Horses receiving much needed nutrition.
Refugees from Mosul meeting with Andy.
School children learning about wildlife. These children are survivors of the ISIS war.
