On the 8th September 2003 we were contacted by a farmer from the Windhoek area who had trapped a leopard. He said that the leopard was tagged. Members of the PCT and MET travelled out to the farm that same afternoon.
A large male leopard weighing about 60 kg was in the boxtrap. He was marked with a visual collar, which is made out of machine belting and has brass plates stamped with an identification number as well as contact details should animals be recaptured or shot.
Photograph courtesy of Dirk Heinrich
From the number on the collar he was recognised as the same animal that we had marked and released in the Daan Viljoen Nature Reserve in January 2002. In the 18 months since his first capture he had gained about 5 kg and his condition was good.
Photograph courtesy of Dirk Heinrich
The farmer was keen to have the leopard released back on his farm so after taking blood samples and measurements, he was radio collared and released. He will be tracked by air and all locations will be communicated to the farmer.
Photograph courtesy of Dirk Heinrich
Photograph courtesy of Dirk Heinrich
Since the leopard was fitted with the radio collar, infrequent access to an aircraft prevented us from radio tracking the leopard on a regular basis so when the new PCT aircraft landed on Namibian soil, we decided to track the leopard on the very first test flight. He was easily located in the mountains near the hotsprings of Gross Barmen near Okahandja which was only 15 km as the crow flies from where we had released him with a radio collar. From now on, we plan to regularly track this leopard on every opportunity we have to fly the aircraft.
The following is a GIS (Geographic Information System) diagram showing the topology of the area, with the coordinates where the leopard was located marked.
© Predator Conservation Trust.
