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A camera trap photo of the leopard \u2013 supplied by SANparks<\/p>\n A camera trap photo of the leopard \u2013 supplied by SANparks<\/p>\n
For an astonishing 170 years, there hasn\u2019t been a leopard sighting on the western coast of South Africa.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Conservationists have hailed the moment as a milestone for rewilding and conservation programs that have paved the way for the cat\u2019s return.<\/p>\n
Panthera pardus,\u00a0is 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
These latter two have spent the last 20 years attempting to facilitate the leopard\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Additionally, a shift in project focus to human-wildlife coexistence rather than just focusing on providing protection to reserves, has been key.<\/p>\n
AFRICAN CONSERVATION:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThese efforts have allowed wildlife like leopards to move more freely and safely through the landscape,\u201d SANParks spokesperson JP Louw, told Cape Etc<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe return of the leopard to the West Coast National Park underscores the success of long-term conservation partnerships,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n To the north, in the country of Zambia, conservation NGO Panthera has seen a tripling of estimated leopard numbers in Kafue National Park.<\/p>\n At 22,700 square miles, Kafue is two-and-a-half-times larger than Yellowstone, but exists within the Greater Kafue Ecosystem\u2014a mosaic of landscapes enjoying various levels of protection that\u2019s three times larger than that\u2014around the size of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very large, and has tremendous potential for recovery, but it\u2019s been so beaten up for so many decades,\u201d said Jon Ayers, Board Chairman of Panthera, the world\u2019s only conservation group dedicated exclusively to wildcats.<\/p>\n