As one of the most adaptable cat species on the planet, leopards rarely attract much in the way of conservation concern, but that may be their undoing. In South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, leopards are protected in reserves but often come into conflict with people when they range beyond park boundaries. They are destroyed by farmers because of the real and perceived threat they pose to livestock, they are targeted by commercial trophy hunters, and they are killed by poachers for traditional uses that range from ceremonial dress to folk medicine.

As leopard populations become increasingly fragmented, authorities are concerned about the number of leopards killed legally and illicitly. Our study aims to ensure that legal trophy hunting and problem animal control is biologically sustainable, and to reduce illegal persecution by improving livestock husbandry and curbing the trade in leopard skins. To achieve this, we work in close collaboration with partners that include Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, hunting operators, local communities, private landowners, game farm associations and wildlife managers.

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