IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Power, R.J.; Botha, M.V.; Strydom, N.; Mseleku, S.; Venter, L.; Bartels, P. | |
| A decade of snaring of leopards in a South African province | |
| 2021 Cat News (73): 4-7 | |
The use of wire snares in the bushmeat trade is likely to have a serious impact on non-target felid populations worldwide. In South Africa's North West Province, we reported 22 snared leopards_ Panthera pardus _from 2010 to 2020, of which ~45% had died, while just over half had been rescued and survived. Based on concurrently satellite collared leopards, of all types of mortality, the contribution of snares was ~33%. There is even potential to reverse imminent death via rescue and treatment of collared animals, but this is dependent on high quality satellite telemetry with low positional errors. Solutions to eliminate snaring are as follows: a) conduct regular anti-snaring patrols in 'hotspot' areas, b) satellite collaring of leopards to pin-pointing both snaring 'hotspots' and rescuing them from snares, and then c) to dissuade a bushmeat industry by encouraging large-scale food subsidies to local communities (i.e. fish in large man-made dams). In the future, extreme interventions aimed at individual felids may become a common place given anticipated human-modification of many landscapes. |
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