It is almost impossible to know how leopards are faring in South Africa. They are secretive animals that are mainly nocturnal, solitary, and range over huge areas. Counting them requires intensive research using expensive technology such camera traps, which can only be deployed over small areas, far smaller than the areas in which hunting quotas are determined. Hunting them will speed up their extinction. By DON PINNOCK.
The Department of Environmental Affairs has set to zero all hunting permits for leopards in South Africa - which is, effectively, a total ban on hunting the cats. This follows an alert by its Scientific Authority that the number of leopards in the country was unknown, and that trophy hunting posed a high risk to the survival of the species. The DEA ban, sent to all provincial authorities, cancels all leopard export permits for 2016.
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