Human thinking holds key to leopard cat survival

With only 500 estimated to be remaining in Taiwan, the leopard cat is an endangered species. As a carnivorous animal, the leopard cat not only eats wild animals, etc. but also steals chickens raised by farmers, resulting in the trapping and poisoning of countless leopard cats over many years. To make matters worse, countless road-widening and development projects have led to a decrease in the leopard cat’s habitat. 

In an effort to reduce conflict between leopard cats and the livelihoods of villagers, conservationists from the academic community visited villages located within leopard cat habitat to launch “Leopard Cat Rice” - 3% of sales will go into a fund for the conservation of leopard cats, which will help to compensate  the losses of farmers who have had chickens killed. It is also hoped that selling “Leopard Cat Rice” will bring awareness to the plight of these enigmatic wild cats and get more people involved in this important conservation work.

以下文中英文對照

石虎存亡關鍵 人類一念之間

石虎是瀕臨絕種的保育類動物，估計全台數量可能不到五百隻。肉食性的石虎除了吃野生動物等，還會去偷吃農民養的雞，因此會被農民設陷阱毒殺。另外也因為道路的拓寬或新建，以及各種開發案，讓石虎的棲地日漸減少。

    為了減少石虎生存與農民生計之間產生的衝突，保育學者在石虎棲地附近的農村推出石虎米，石虎米的銷售額的百分之三提撥作為石虎保育基金，一旦農民雞隻確定因為石虎而有損傷，可以補貼損失。也希望藉由石虎米的銷售，讓更多人可以一起認同並參與石虎的保育。