03/05/2023
STOP HUNTING LIKE FISHING..
Let this be the last catch..No more...
For Sri Lanka’s dwindling leopards, wire snares are the leading killer..
The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is a subspecies unique to the country, and also the island’s apex predator.
Typically rusty yellow in color with dark spots, leopards sometimes come in an all-black hue caused by the mutation known as melanism. That was the case with this latest leopard, which was discovered on camera trap last October, generating waves of excitement among wildlife enthusiasts at the time.
Black leopards are a rarity in Sri Lanka; this was only the third one recorded in the past decade. Far more common is the killing of wildlife by snares, typically set to trap deer or wild boar for bushmeat. The two earlier recorded black leopards were also killed in snares, in 2009 and 2013, in southern Sri Lanka on the border of the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
And it’s not just black leopards: snares are the primary cause of death for Sri Lanka’s leopards at large. In the first five months of this year, six leopards were caught in snares; four of them died. In the second half of May, two leopards were found in snares, one of them the black leopard. The other survived.
According to the Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT), 47 leopards were trapped in snares during the past decade. Of the total 79 leopard deaths reported during this period, 42 deaths were caused by snare-induced injuries.
In the case of leopards, the snares usually catch around the animal’s hip area, where organs like the kidneys can become damaged as the noose crushes them. WWCT’s data for 2010-2020 show that 90% of leopards that get caught in snares die.
Of the 47 leopards the WWCT recorded as being snared, 37 were in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka.
Text Malaka Rodrigo
STOP HUNTING LIKE FISHING..
Let this be the last catch..No more...
For Sri Lanka’s dwindling leopards, wire snares are the leading killer..
The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is a subspecies unique to the country, and also the island’s apex predator.
Typically rusty yellow in color with dark spots, leopards sometimes come in an all-black hue caused by the mutation known as melanism. That was the case with this latest leopard, which was discovered on camera trap last October, generating waves of excitement among wildlife enthusiasts at the time.
Black leopards are a rarity in Sri Lanka; this was only the third one recorded in the past decade. Far more common is the killing of wildlife by snares, typically set to trap deer or wild boar for bushmeat. The two earlier recorded black leopards were also killed in snares, in 2009 and 2013, in southern Sri Lanka on the border of the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
And it’s not just black leopards: snares are the primary cause of death for Sri Lanka’s leopards at large. In the first five months of this year, six leopards were caught in snares; four of them died. In the second half of May, two leopards were found in snares, one of them the black leopard. The other survived.
According to the Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT), 47 leopards were trapped in snares during the past decade. Of the total 79 leopard deaths reported during this period, 42 deaths were caused by snare-induced injuries.
In the case of leopards, the snares usually catch around the animal’s hip area, where organs like the kidneys can become damaged as the noose crushes them. WWCT’s data for 2010-2020 show that 90% of leopards that get caught in snares die.
Of the 47 leopards the WWCT recorded as being snared, 37 were in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka.
Text Malaka Rodrigo
More read https://news.mongabay.com/…/for-sri-lankas-dwindling-leopa…/
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