This story happened back in June, however one of our large sponsors has the right to use the images and tell the story first should they chose, I have now had confirmation we can use the images and information in other places...enjoy!
We picked up a young female leopard at a farm a few miles away who had proved to be a problem animal, eating livestock. We in fact did find her on a calf kill. She was a beautiful, healthy girl with unusual blue eyes. So much so that two of our male staff commented on how attractive she was - a little worrying! But that's what you get when you live out in the bush!
"I don't know what my appeal is. I can see I've got blue eyes and don'tlook like the Hunchback of Notre Dame but I can't understand the fuss." - Rutger Hauer
We had to dart her on arrival to get her into the camp and a few days later we have darted her, taken her health details and measurements, collared her and released her. Leopards can be quite dangerous and she was certainly very feisty - we had to top up her sedation drugs before we could start as she was still growling a little - not a risk you want to take with a leopard!
"Ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep" - Norman Cousins
[unsurprisingly this is not how it works with a leopard]
At the time of sedation the darts used were not co-opertaing and we had 3 faulty ones, 2 which leaked. Also the person doing the darting cut his finger on one of the needles and there was some subtle concern he may have got some of the drugs into his system. I watched as he called his wife over, explaining a few things in afrikaans about some of the drugs in the 'emergency drugs' kit and wondered if we were in trouble, luckily everything was fine.
“Things are starting to go a bit weird, like when Alice falls into the matrix” - Anon
After sedation she was brought out, weighed, measured, her teeth and nails checked and any injuries seen to (she had a few from running round her camp on adrenalin). After weighing we placed her in the cage where she gave a little growl. You don't mess around with leopards so we knew we had to move quickly as she was coming to. We placed a collar on her - for GPS tracking- our specific reasoning here is to see if she has homing instincts - will she come back to us? or go back to the farm we got her from? also will she continue to predate on livestock? Collared, the drugs are reversed and she is taken to the release site.
Here are some pictures of the process...
Here are some pictures of the process...
Finally down we can begin our work
Check out those how healthy she is
Taking her measurements
Huge paws
Measuring her teeth
checking her temperature - our student from Duke Uni looking especially fascinated here
Checking out and cleaning her claws that she has damaged a little during the translocation process. Sadly the process from the farmer capturing the carnivore to us releasing it can be quite stressful, though a little stress and minor injuries in relocation is better than the potential alternative of some farmers who would have simply shot her.
our founder and directors son tending to the wound on her nose
taking her weight (weight of person plus leopard minus weight of person)
collar on
Reversal drugs in
leopard in capture cage, tarpaulin over to eliminate light, stimuli and stress and off we go...
"The best road to progress is freedom's road." - John F. Kennedy
Knowing she was a feisty lady, we luckily anticipated her next move and kept everyone at a safe distance and in the car - just after release she turned back on the car, leapt at the wheel and side mirror and ripped it off with claws and teeth before disappearing into the veldt!
"She's done a great job of adding a little spark. She's a really feisty defender." - Carmen Dolfo
