Hi Guys,
Thought you may be interested in this. I stayed with this family in about 1998, and the lady, Olive, remembered my father as a youngster! (Thick Afrikaaner accent) "Hey i rememeber you, you used to play in the trees like Baboons!". We stayed in a little cottage on their farm so, as you can imagine, when me and dad read this :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
""A leopard was caught in the Cederberg in a gin-trap set by a local farmer and shot dead the following day.
The farmer had no permit to use a gin-trap or to shoot a leopard, but CapeNature has said it will not
prosecute.
This is the latest case of conflict between stock farmers and wild animals in the Cederberg, and comes only months after the Cape Leopard Project was launched in an attempt to improve management of leopards.
Johan Burger of CapeNature said yesterday the leopard was an old male that had killed about nine sheep on Kromrivier farm in the past three months.
He said Rens Nieuwoudt, owner of Kromrivier, had tried unsuccessfully to get hold of CapeNature officials on the day he had found another sheep killed by the leopard.
"When he couldn't get hold of anyone, he decided to set a gin-trap," said Burger.
"When Pip Nieuwoudt went to check the trap the next day, the leopard was in it.
"It is not a humane way to catch animals and Pip had to shoot it.
"The leopard used to stay in the river next to a camp site. It caught the sheep about 550 metres from the farmhouse. It could have caused problems for his family and the campers," Burger said.
He said CapeNature had previously put a cage trap on the farm to try to catch the leopard, but it had avoided it.
Kas Hamman, who heads CapeNature's conservation section, described the incident as "a sad story".
"But in view of the collaboration from farmers around the Cape Leopard Project, we've decided not to prosecute," he said, adding that farmers had been warned they would be prosecuted if it happened again. ""
I remember this place like yesterday!!!
Jake
Thought you may be interested in this. I stayed with this family in about 1998, and the lady, Olive, remembered my father as a youngster! (Thick Afrikaaner accent) "Hey i rememeber you, you used to play in the trees like Baboons!". We stayed in a little cottage on their farm so, as you can imagine, when me and dad read this :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
""A leopard was caught in the Cederberg in a gin-trap set by a local farmer and shot dead the following day.
The farmer had no permit to use a gin-trap or to shoot a leopard, but CapeNature has said it will not
prosecute.
This is the latest case of conflict between stock farmers and wild animals in the Cederberg, and comes only months after the Cape Leopard Project was launched in an attempt to improve management of leopards.
Johan Burger of CapeNature said yesterday the leopard was an old male that had killed about nine sheep on Kromrivier farm in the past three months.
He said Rens Nieuwoudt, owner of Kromrivier, had tried unsuccessfully to get hold of CapeNature officials on the day he had found another sheep killed by the leopard.
"When he couldn't get hold of anyone, he decided to set a gin-trap," said Burger.
"When Pip Nieuwoudt went to check the trap the next day, the leopard was in it.
"It is not a humane way to catch animals and Pip had to shoot it.
"The leopard used to stay in the river next to a camp site. It caught the sheep about 550 metres from the farmhouse. It could have caused problems for his family and the campers," Burger said.
He said CapeNature had previously put a cage trap on the farm to try to catch the leopard, but it had avoided it.
Kas Hamman, who heads CapeNature's conservation section, described the incident as "a sad story".
"But in view of the collaboration from farmers around the Cape Leopard Project, we've decided not to prosecute," he said, adding that farmers had been warned they would be prosecuted if it happened again. ""
I remember this place like yesterday!!!
Jake