Another repeat photo. I feel a little bad, but my revisit to this one was worth submitting. It is a larger crop of the original photo and depicts the full face of an Amur leopard named Sasha.

This is Sasha, a big old amur leopard who is a big old suck. He was rather comfortable in my company and was able to scratch and pet him (not to mention get a nice shot while he was distracted something). It is remarkable how soft their fur is...unfortunately, that is one of the reasons why the species is on the edge of extinction, staring into the abyss.

The Amur leopard is the rarest big cat in the world. It is estimated that there are less than 30 left in the wild with 200 in captivity. If you want to find out more about Amur Leopards and what you can do to help, check out this http://www.amur-leopard.org/index.htm

I am scared to think that this photo might one day be a haunting relic of an extinct species. To have contact with them is a blessing. I hope my work someday can help me sustain this species.