Earlier this week, a female leopard, was operated on to fix her teeth prior to being released back into the wild to a location in South Africa’s Magaliesberg mountain range. A specialist dental veterinarian, Dr Gerhard Steenkamp performed the operation, and basically did a root canal operation, which is not unlike that done on humans. This whole operation was jointly facilitated by Wildforlife Rustenburg and the North West provincial conservation authorities. A second phase of the whole operation was that of seeing where these confiscated leopards do end up once released, which would be utilised in the criminal case proceedings to know the origin of the leopards – this is mindful that leopards home back to where they come from. To date three leopards have been satellite collared, and while it is early days, they do seem to frequent the vicinity of the release sites – and thus the releases are perceived to be successful. Satellite technology is expensive and the purchase of which would not be possible without the sponsorship by private companies and organisations such as the following: Bakwena Plaza Toll Company, Companion Care Veterinary Clinic in the UK, C4 Images & Safaris, and Pilanesberg National Park. Since the leopards were case exhibits they were temporarily confined in captivity, at both De Wildt/Shingwedzi in Limpopo, and the Mafunyane Game Reserve in North West province. The whole operation involved co-operation the North West province’s arms of Law Enforcement, Problem Animal Control and Biodiversity Scientific Support. Mindful of the low numbers of leopards in this particular South African province, the authorities are prepared to invest resources into micro-managing and restoring the welfare of individuals, as opposed to the norm of looking only at population level management. Three leopards can now be re-circulated back into the wild landscapes of the country. We will endeavour to update you on the progress of these satellite collared animals and how they fare in their new ranges in the wild.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 10:18:46 +0000