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A leopard, that lost its front paw and disappered from Armenia's Vayots Dzor Province in December 2022, has been spotted in Tavush Province two years later, WWF-Armenia reports. 

"Tavush strikes again! We are glad to share our exciting findings from the forests of Tavush Province of Armenia. For the second time in four years, WWF-Armenia has spotted a leopard in the province. This record confirms again the long-circulating Soviet-era rumors about the occurrence of the leopard in Tavush," the fund said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

"The individual in the photo has its own dramatic story. It was first discovered in February 2019 in Vayots Dzor by rangers of Arpa Protected Landscape. One year later, while still in Vayots Dzor, Aren, as we named the male leopard, has lost its front paw, but recovered and was able to successfully hunt. Aren disappered from Vayots Dzor and our "radars" in December 2022, and now, two years later it turns up in Tavush, 150 km away from Arpa Protected Landscape!

"The new finding would have been impossible without preparedness and alertness of our community ranger in Tavush, Arman Gabrielyan, who was the "cause" of the discovery of the first leopard too in Tavush several years ago.

"These records extend WWF-Armenia's Leopard Monitoring Program to northern Armenia, where we track wildlife with trail cameras already over the past 4 years."