A camera trap photo of the leopard – supplied by SANparks
For an astonishing 170 years, there hasn’t been a leopard sighting on the western coast of South Africa.
That recently changed when South Africa National Parks (SANparks) published a camera trap photograph of a leopard in West Coast NP, showing how the elusive predator has recolonized an area where it has long been absent.
Conservationists have hailed the moment as a milestone for rewilding and conservation programs that have paved the way for the cat’s return.
Panthera pardus, is not considered Endangered, but rather Vulnerable, according to the IUCN. It had been extirpated by the mid-1800s as part of a decline in its range across the sub-Saharan regions over the decades.
Many entities have contributed to its return to the West Coast. SANparks, private landowners, the University of the Western Cape, and the local government of Saldanha Bay, all lent their cooperation to two conservation groups, the Landmark Leopard and Predator Project.
These latter two have spent the last 20 years attempting to facilitate the leopard’s return by monitoring the area between Cape Town and the Berg River, and rebuilding wildlife corridors in the northern, western, and eastern cape to connect fragmented habitat.
Additionally, a shift in project focus to human-wildlife coexistence rather than just focusing on providing protection to reserves, has been key.
AFRICAN CONSERVATION:
“These efforts have allowed wildlife like leopards to move more freely and safely through the landscape,” SANParks spokesperson JP Louw, told Cape Etc.
“The return of the leopard to the West Coast National Park underscores the success of long-term conservation partnerships,” he added.
To the north, in the country of Zambia, conservation NGO Panthera has seen a tripling of estimated leopard numbers in Kafue National Park.
At 22,700 square miles, Kafue is two-and-a-half-times larger than Yellowstone, but exists within the Greater Kafue Ecosystem—a mosaic of landscapes enjoying various levels of protection that’s three times larger than that—around the size of Massachusetts.
“It’s very large, and has tremendous potential for recovery, but it’s been so beaten up for so many decades,” said Jon Ayers, Board Chairman of Panthera, the world’s only conservation group dedicated exclusively to wildcats.
“As exciting as the project has been, there’s still tremendous opportunity to see it grow back to its original vibrancy,” he told GNN.
SHARE This Long-Awaited Return For The Western Cape On Social Media…