Manama: A Saudi man who killed a critically endangered Arab leopard by poisoning it said that he wanted to protect himself, his family and his animals.

Jubair Al Metrafi risks a long term in prison after the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation said that he should be arrested for killing the protected leopard.

However, Jubair said that he was not aware of the status of the animal and that he was concerned about the well-being of his 10-member family and the camels he kept.

He explained that the leopard had killed seven of his camels and that he had serious worries for about three months until he was able to eliminate the animal by placing poison in the corpse of the dead camel, local reports said.

The village residents who thought that a wolf had killed the camels were shocked to find the Arab leopard, an animal that they heard about for four decades, but never actually seen, dead next to the poisoned camel corpse.

The corpse was reportedly later sold to a man from outside the village who planned to keep the rare fur.

The Residents in the Nooman area in western Saudi Arabia said that they were concerned another leopard was roaming in the area, prompting the authorities to place cameras to assess whether there were wild animals in the mountainous area.

Saudi Arabia had launched an ambitious programme to look after the almost extinct Arabian leopard. The authorities said that the Arabian leopard, which had lived in large numbers in the Arabian Peninsula, has become almost extinct.

Comments on the issue were mostly sympathetic with the old man, offering him support as he faced “risks to his life and his family” and “tragic onslaughts on his private property.”

Although several comments insisted on the significance of protecting animals, they said that people’s lives and property should not be disregarded or ignored for the sake of protecting wild animals.

“Those who want to protect wild animals should breed and keep them in protected area, not allow them to attack people or domestic animals,” one commentator said.

In other remarks, a blogger said that the man should not be arrested “as he did nothing wrong since he was protecting himself, his family and his camels.”

Others, however, doubted the version given by the old man about the tiger’s death, saying that the animal was too small to kill seven camels, albeit in separate attacks.