By Kotie Geldenhuys;
Photos provided by SANParks and the Mpumalanga Parks Agency
On a cold Sunday morning a team from the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre in Hoedspruit set out to rescue a snared leopard in the bushes of a Komatiland plantation in Agatha, Tzaneen. Not certain what they would find, they were horrified upon arriving to find a nearly lifeless leopard caught in the snare. The snare, 32 cm in diameter and designed for smaller animals, was tied to a pole about 1.5 m long. In her desperate attempts to free herself, the young female leopard had sustained severe injuries. She had lost both a canine and a molar tooth, and her mouth was swollen and bleeding. In her distress, she had even bitten off some of her back toes. She was badly dehydrated, highly stressed and in a critical condition. The snare had cut deep into her stomach and the wound was infested with maggots. It was estimated that this young leopard, believed to be 10 to 12 months old, had been trapped for at least five days before she was discovered. The leopard was so stressed that her eyes had rolled back and she was too exhausted to resist capture to be transported back to the rehabilitation centre. She was very weak, would not eat and barely lifted her head to drink water, possibly due to an obstruction. After four days of close monitoring and care, the leopard had her first meal and began to show signs of improvement (De Bruin, 2014). There is no doubt that snaring is indiscriminate, and extremely cruel as it can lead to a prolonged and agonising death for trapped animals, leaving them vulnerable to predators without any means of defence or escape.
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[This is only an extract of an article that is published in Servamus: September 2024. This article is available for purchase.]