Formosan clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa brachyura), thought to be extinct for 36 years, has been reportedly sighted roaming around in the wilderness of Taitung County, Taiwan, by two different groups of tribal rangers in January 2019.



The Taitung District Office of the Forestry Bureau and members of the Alangyi Village treated the recent sightings of Formosan clouded leopard—a sacred animal to the Paiwan people—with utmost importance.
A tribal meeting was held in the Alangyi Village to further investigate the matter and to stop outsiders from hunting in the region. Elders from the village also urged the Forestry Bureau to stop its logging activities.
Even though Formosan clouded leopard was officially last seen in 1983, Liu Chiung-hsi, ecologist and Life Sciences professor of National Taitung University of Department, did not find the sightings of the animal surprising.
Professor Liu revealed that while talking to the indigenous Bunter hunters in 1998, some admitted they had hunted down the Asian cats, but worrying that they might be prosecuted under Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Act, they burned the leopards’ bodies.
Further investigation is needed to verify the existence of Formosan clouded leopards; nonetheless, members of the Bunun tribe believe the Asian cats still roam furtively in Taiwan’s forests.
Do you believe that the Formosan clouded leopards have clawed their way back from the edge of extinction? Well, if they really did, we may be able to see the leopards scrambling through the dense forests of Taiwan again.