One of the leopards that is still a bit drowsy. Photo: Melvin Jones
On Tuesday, a male and female leopard, were released in Mountainlands Nature Reserve. They originate from the Mashishing (Lydenburg) area and were translocated to Wildlifevets.com based east of Nelspruit. The cats were initially destined for Malawi, but that move ran into some red tape and now Mountainlands is their new home.
Both have been fitted with satellite tracking collars provided by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT). These will provide data about their movements, behaviour and physical traits such as temperature and heartbeat to allow scientists to monitor their adjustment to the new environment.
The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency’s Wildlife Management Unit, accompanied by veterinarians from Wildlifevets.com immobilized the cats before transporting them in crates, by road, to the reserve.
Precious cargo. Photo: Melvin Jones
Once in Mountainlands the crates were offloaded in the shade of a tree and the doors pulled open. After a short while the leopards started stirring and drowsily peeked at their new home. A few minutes later they lifted their heads and, still dozy, moved out on wobbly legs and keeled over in the shade for a short snooze. A few nods and unsteady steps later, the male slinked into the bush. It took the female a bit longer to follow in the same direction.
The tracking collar will be released electronically after a few months. Photo: Melvin Jones
Leopards are apex predators and play a very important role in ecosystem health. Their release will expand the existing gene pool in the reserve as mating opportunities with regionally established leopards will be opened up.
Leopards (Scientific name: Panthera pardus) are classified as an endangered species according to the IUCN Red list of threatened species. They will be safe on Mountainlands and all the many helping hands and sponsors of the project are thanked for their contributions.
