The hunt for Beijing's wild cats

A leopard cat prowling the Haituo mountain range located on the border of Beijing and Hebei province. - PEKING UNIVERSITY AND CHINESE FELID CONSERVATION ALLIANCE

BEIJING (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Professor Luo Shu-Jin and her students from Peking University are rooting about in the bush in Yanqing district on the outskirts of Beijing, looking for signs of animal droppings.

In the distance looms the alpine skiing slopes of the Winter Olympics, white and gleaming in the sun - ready for the Games that will be held next month under some of the most stringent Covid-19 control measures.