The Cape Leopard Trust is turning its attentions to the Eastern Cape to study the free roaming predators in the province and they need help!
South Africa (06 March 2024) — The Cape Leopard Trust (CLT) is calling on residents of the Eastern Cape to help them start monitoring wild leopards in the province. They are even hosting a competition to boost engagement.
The Trust is a non-profit that has worked hard to conserve the wild spaces these free-roaming predators call home, working with farmers and the public to ensure their safety.
The leopard is the last large predator and the last member of the Big 5 to still roam free in the Cape provinces. The species faces multiple threats, including limited and fragmented habitat, reduction in prey numbers and high levels of conflict with people.
“Have you ever seen a leopard or any field signs of leopards in the Eastern Cape? We’d love to hear from you if you have – you’ll be contributing to important leopard research and you stand a chance of winning some awesome prizes to boot!”
The CLT leopard database collects information on leopard activity and threats to leopards from across the Cape provinces. Over the past 3 years, this database has collated thousands of records – thanks to fantastic contributions from citizen scientists, researchers, and partner organisations. Currently, most data points are from the Western Cape, but in 2024 the Trust is setting its sights on expanding leopard knowledge in the Eastern Cape.
In 2023, the Cape Leopard Trust partnered with Jamma International, Panthera, and Nelson Mandela University to support PhD student Silindokuhle Tokota. His work focuses on the status of and threats facing leopard populations in the Eastern Cape. Over the next couple of months, the CLT invites leopard records from across the Eastern Cape to be submitted to our database. These points will contribute to Silindokuhle’s research and shed light on an understudied area for leopards within South Africa.
What exactly is CLT looking for?
They are seeking all verifiable observations of leopards and their field signs in the Eastern Cape from 2010 onwards.
Leopard sighting records can consist of camera trap photos, photos of leopard signs (i.e. spoor/tracks, scats/droppings, scratch marks on trees, feeding sites) and photos of direct leopard observations (i.e. visual sightings).
The team needs a photo, date as well as a location point for each record.
How to submit your records and enter the competition:
Go to app.capeleopard.org.za and follow the steps to create an account.
Each data point must be submitted individually to the online portal, so if you have multiple observations to share or prefer to contribute via email, please contact research@capeleopard.org.za
You can find all the details about the competition via the Cape Leopard Trust website.
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