DIRK HEINRICH
NAMIBIAN LEOPARD
A lot of leopards in Namibia are caught in cage traps and are eventually killed because farmers see them as problem animals responsible for livestock losses.
Most measures to deal with this conflict are not always lucrative and at the end of the day conservation efforts are weakened by indiscriminate killing of leopard. And even if leopards are killed to counter conflict, it usually leaves a vacuum which attracts a new male, and so the vicious circle continues.
the value of a leopard to be at least N$50,000, farmers will see much bigger value in this divine species than when it was shot and left to rot in the veld.
causes of the perceived decline in the cheetah population, due to the fact that leopards are in the process of taking over territories that have been seen as cheetah habitats for decades.
The situation is taxing. Both the livelihood of farmers and the conservation of leopards are at stake, and to find a way for both to live together off the same land is an extreme challenge.
Hunting quotas have been established as a way to control the legal off-take of leopard, to try and ensure a fair distributed off-take throughout the country and in line with the occurrence of leopard, as well as to exercise strict control and adherence to the CITES regulations set out for Namibia.
Controlled and selective hunting practices which contribute to conservation are one possibility. They offer an incentive to the farmer. Instead of killing any leopard on sight, they combine a good farming management practice with an off-take of leopard according to a science-based quota. Through this method, the farmer at least gets compensated for some losses. Since a court recently found
As recently as 2012, the last comprehensive leopard census was undertaken in Namibia. These findings, together with previous studies, suggest that Namibia has the highest leopard density in all of Africa. These statistics correlate with the present line of thought gaining ground in Namibia, according to which an increase in the leopard population in Namibia might be one of the primary
All this, of course, flies in the face of the commonly held belief internationally that the leopard populations in Africa are facing a steady and steep decline – which has, inter alia, been used by the anti-hunting lobby as ammunition to promote actions to bring about the banning of leopard trophies into certain countries, as well as the proposal to list leopard on Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). Given the fact that the leopard is a shy, solitary animal, well versed in the art of camouflage, estimates and notions by many uninformed parties as to population densities, habitats, habits and distribution are at best sketchy.
HUNTiNAMIBIA | 2018
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