Some sad news…

This leopard project is unfolding at a rapid pace. Last week we sent two units to keep up with the story while I was also away on a reccie. Shaun went back up to the Baviaanskloof, while Sunel went up to the Northern Cape to follow the story of another leopard. 

Jeannine McManus of the Landmark Foundation told us that  that they were heading up over the weekend to check on a collared leopard in the region. The tricky part about filming a project like this one is that it is very difficult to plan for – when we get the call we need to go – so Sunel jumped in the car with her assistant, Mari, and drove straight up to the Kalahari to catch it all on video. Unfortunately, when she arrived, she was met with heartbreaking news. The leopard that we were hoping to document had been shot and killed the night before…

This leopard was the first and only collared leopard in the region as part of a Landmark Foundation research program trying to establish population densities, dynamics and distribution, and addressing human-wildlife conflicts. This is 48th leopard killed in similar (snares, gin traps, poisons, and hunting) circumstances in the Landmark Foundation’s area of operations.On the positive side, they have rescued 50 leopards over the last ten years, bringing them to just above a 50% success rate – some of them having subsequently been killed, as in this case. 

South Africa at one point was a vast wilderness that allowed all animals to move and live freely. But when we parcelled off our land, fenced it in, and replaced wild animals with domesticated ones that we eat – we created a conflict zone. Now, the last of the apex predators that still roams wild and free is increasingly coming under threat to put food on our tables…

I’m not in a position quite yet to start pointing fingers and blaming people, but one thing that is very clear is that something needs to change. I empathize with farmers because I’ve seen their hardships first-hand through my various documentary series about food in southern Africa,  but if this continues the way that it is, we will lose the leopard forever…

The only way that we will stop this is if we allow farmers to farm with nature instead of fighting it, and that means giving them the money that they deserve for farming ethically. You can support ethical producers by insisting that your retailers only stock meats and animals fibres from farmers that do not indiscriminately and cruelly kill carnivores and other wildlife in their production efforts. 

Let’s hope that this reaches the people who need to see it and brings us a fraction closer to resolving this ongoing conflict between us and wild nature…