Leopard Research in Namibia
I'm very excited to announce we have collared our first big cat in Africa! By that I mean that we have funded the cost of a GPS tracking collar, and together with our partner charity, N/a'an ku se Foundation in Namibia, we have put it to good use on a young leopard caught by a farmer. The information below is the report I was sent from N/a'an ku se last week.
“The research department at N/a’an ku sê Foundation received a call for assistance from a Namibian landowner, located 170km west of Windhoek, on the 29th of July. After losing several cows to what was suspected to be spotted hyenas, trap cages had been set out in an attempt to catch the offending livestock raiders. However it was not hyenas that got caught but a leopard instead.
The research team travelled to the site the day after receiving the call. Upon arrival we found a very healthy young male leopard approximately 3-4 years old. The landowner reported that he has not experienced any problems with leopard attacking his livestock and was therefore enthusiastic to help; giving permission for the leopard to be fitted with a GPS tracking collar and released immediately.
This leopard (N082) is now the 82nd large carnivore to be fitted with a tracking collar by the research team. The landowner joins the list of Namibian farmers who receive daily updates on the movements of the collared animals in a co-operative effort to understand and conserve the large carnivores of Namibia.
The researchers sincerely thank The Feline Foundation (CAT TEE MISSION) for sponsorship of the GPS unit that enabled the immediate release of this leopard. Without such external support our conflict mitigation work would not be possible.”
Our leopard being collared
A quick health check for our young man
The coolest thing for me in this whole process, apart from the fact that we gave this leopard another chance at a wild life, is that I was given the opportunity to name him. I decided on Ollie, after my own little-big cat. He will still be called N082 most of the time for research purposes, but that is also cool in itself because I was born in November of 82!! Seems like it was meant to be...
The Feline Foundation is so proud to be partnered with N/a'an ku se who are doing an amazing job in the fight to save Africa's great cats. Please help us help them by buying some merchandise or by purchasing a raffle ticket to go into the running to win an original cheetah drawing by renowned artist Nafisa.