Lightning's leopard legacy lives on This week the N/a''an ku sê Foundation paid homage to Lightning, a rehabilitated female leopard rescued by the foundation in 2008.In a press statement, the foundation said Lightning, refitted with a GPS collar this month, “has not only become the most successful N/a''an ku sê release study, but she also holds the record for being the world''s longest monitored free-roaming leopard.”
Since 2009, when she was released in southern Namibia, Lightning has provided important insights for the foundation''s researchers, particularly relating to human-wildlife conflict.
Caught by a farmer in 2008, the young female leopard came to N/a''an ku sê to be rehabilitated by Rudie and Marlice van Vuuren, well-known conservationists and the founders of the N/a''an ku sê Foundation.
According to the statement it took almost a year of medical care and specialised rehabilitation techniques for the young leopard to regain the peak physical condition necessary for a safe release back into the wild.
Then, in 2009, fitted with a GPS collar, Lightning was released on Kulala Wilderness Reserve in southern Namibia.
Data transmitted by her GPS collar ensured that contact was not completely severed, allowing the N/a''an ku sê team to track and monitor her movements, collecting data critical to the foundation''s human-carnivore conflict mitigation research.
Eventually, Lightning moved onto the Neuras Wine and Wildlife Estate, a N/a''an ku sê reserve and prime carnivore research site – and decided to call it home.
Approximately every two years the batteries of a GPS collar run dry, requiring collared cats to be trapped and re-collared in a bid to continue tracking their movements.
“Leopards are notoriously tricky to re-collar, their natural intelligence often preventing them from re-entering the confines of a capture cage. However, Lightning has seemingly realised that capture cages bring no harm, confidently entering them when her re-collarings beckon, thus having allowed the N/a''an ku sê Foundation to continue monitoring her movements for seven years – a recognised world record in the annals of big cat research,” the foundation stated this week.
One highlight of camera traps tracking her movement was the visuals of Lightning with cubs, the statement said.
Data records indicate that Lightning has never targeted livestock, a no-conflict status which researchers say can be attributed to a high number of free-roaming big cats in the wild, many of which are unfairly persecuted.
“Human-wildlife conflict is researched and subsequently tackled as intensively as possible, the scientific data resulting from the GPS collaring of wild carnivores providing a platform from which to systematically address the complex facets of conflict.
“Free-roaming carnivores face an ongoing battle in their quest to peacefully co-exist with man, the N/a''an ku sê Foundation constantly striving to facilitate this peaceful co-existence through tangible research findings.”
STAFF REPORTER