Rare leopard stolen in Russian car-jacking

Police in the Russian city of St Petersburg were today searching for a rare missing leopard which was stolen yesterday when thieves ambushed a TV producer and drove off in his luxury Mercedes 4x4.

The amur leopard – which was in the boot – is one of the world's most highly endangered species, with fewer than 45 left in the wild in Russia's remote far east. About 300 others are captive in zoos around the world.

According to its owner, Mikhail Barakin, the thieves were wearing masks. They ambushed him and his driver, throwing both of them out of the vehicle, shortly after they drove to St Petersburg with the leopard from Moscow.

"She's a female leopard cub and she's incredibly tame,'' Barakin told the Guardian this morning. "She's just over a month old. The leopard was brought up in captivity."

He went on: "We had been driving all night with the leopard in a travel cage. The plan was to take her to the vet. The driver was fiddling with the cage when two men jumped into the vehicle and threw us out. My suspicion is the theft was done to order."

Barakin said the leopard – a present from a Moscow businessman – was far more valuable than the stolen Mercedes. He has offered a €95,000 (£85,400) reward for its safe return, and says he is prepared to drop all charges if the thieves bring the animal back.

The leopard was to have been housed in a purpose-built enclosure on a country estate outside St Petersburg, he added. Barakin said he had hired a specialist to look after it, and was planning to use the cub in TV commercials.

The amur, or far eastern leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), lives in the forests around Vladivostok. One of eight leopard subspecies, it has been brought to the brink of extinction by poaching and the destruction of its habitat.

This morning St Petersburg police said they had no official information about the leopard theft. "We can only investigate if there is a complaint,'' said Viacheslav Stephchenko.

This is not the first such incident in Russia. Twelve years ago a man was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport after arriving on a flight from Georgia with a bear. He told customs the bear was a "gift from a friend".

Courtesy of Mary Ann Howell