Top 3 for sure, as Minnesota and Utah would also be strong contenders. Incidentally, Living Desert has an excellent jaguar exhibit that would be a top 3 contender along with Jacksonville and Woodland Park (and maybe Saint Louis)...and the cheetah exhibit at Living Desert is splendid...and the cougar exhibit is also very nice...and Lion Ridge is in the future...cats, cats, cats.
Here's the problem. There are only so many spots available for leopards in AZA zoos. Leopards are not a big draw in the same way that tigers are. Therefore if they are to maintain a viable population of leopards, they must choose one single subspecies, and the Amur leopard is the one that exists in large enough numbers in AZA zoos with the greatest conservation need. Therefore, in order for any AZA zoo to display leopards, they need to be Amur leopards, whether or not it fits the "geographical" theme. I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with Amur leopards representing their species in situations where an Amur River Valley type exhibit would not fit in the collection plan.
