ABIDJAN — While leopards are endangered across West Africa, researchers have discovered a thriving population of the big cats in Comoe National Park in northeastern Ivory Coast, a rare conservation success amid regional instability.
According to Robin Horion, a researcher with the conservation group Panthera, the organization’s 2024 observation mission in collaboration with the Ivorian Parks and Reserves Office (OIPR) revealed that leopards in Comoe are in strong health, potentially representing the largest population in West Africa. This comes as a “pleasant surprise,” given that earlier surveys in the 2000s had found only rare traces of the species.
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Across the region, however, the situation for big cats remains bleak. Fewer than 500 mature leopards are believed to survive between Senegal and Nigeria, while lions and cheetahs face near-extinction. Lions exist in only two populations — one spread across Benin, Niger, and Burkina Faso, and another in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park — while the cheetah could disappear from West Africa entirely within the next two decades.
In contrast, Ivory Coast appears to be a bright spot for leopard conservation. Both Comoe and Tai National Park in the country’s west are well-managed and home to healthy leopard populations. Comoe also shelters other rare species, including the elusive African golden cat, the serval, the caracal, and the spotted hyena.
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Still, Horion warned that security challenges in northern Ivory Coast, where jihadist and militia groups remain active, could jeopardize future conservation efforts. “Things can change very quickly,” he said, underscoring the fragile balance between wildlife recovery and regional instability.