To the Editor:

Re “It’s Real: Black Panther Observed in Kenya” (news article, Feb. 14):

The media frenzy over Will Burrard-Lucas’s stunning photos of a rare black leopard in Kenya underscores the world’s fascination with these mysterious creatures.

While the conservation community weighs whether the new data actually serves as the first evidence of a black leopard in Africa in a century (at least half a dozen others have been reported), we are missing a more important point: All leopards are increasingly rare, having lost 75 percent of their historical range, and several subspecies in Southeast Asia hover at extinction.

I hope that these exceptional sightings provoke not just a viral media moment, but also a movement to protect and preserve these magnificent animals that so capture our imagination.

Guy Balme
Cape Town
The writer is deputy director of conservation science and director of the Leopard Program for Panthera, a global wild cat conservation group.

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