The visitors of the Chisinau zoo may admire a male Amur leopard, which has just been brought from Russia.

Zoo representatives say it took them four years of negotiations to persuade their Russian colleagues to make the deal.

They hope the two cats may 'fall in love' and beget little ones.

This is a subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and the Jilin Province of northeast China. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. In 2007, only 19–26 wild Amur leopards were estimated to survive.

Data published by the World Wildlife Fund indicates that there are roughly 70 adult Amur leopards in the wild today. A more recent study places the number of Amur leopards at fewer than 60.

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