A little update on some not-so-little leopards

So, things aren’t looking good for Baxter and Lulu.

They had been in the compound at Safari Style for a few months, growing bigger and stronger every day and were slowly being weaned off their special leopard milk formula. Escape attempts were being made, trees were being climbed and the poor dik-diks and dikers in the compound were getting a workout from the voracious little cubs, who very clearly had lost none of their natural hunting instincts.

The potential home that had been found for them in a private wildlife sanctuary in Kenya, near Tsavo East National Park, had unfortunately fallen through due to a lack of agreement from the Kenyan Wildlife Service to take them. The papers were signed on the South Sudan side, but not on the Kenyan. Plan B was for them to go to South Africa in a similar way, through a wildlife contact Ollie had – the support and offers were coming in thick and fast for various organisations to assist with relocating them. There was even an offer from a woman in Uganda who wanted to set up her own wildlife sanctuary and wanted the leopards. Not likely.

A majority of the groundwork to relocate the leopards had been done by my friend here in Rumbek; unlike WCS, who had agreed to be responsible for the process of getting them out of the country and properly protected, but had failed to actually do anything. You would think that the official partner organisation of the South Sudanese Government, tasked with setting up the network of national parks across the country, building ranger stations and training rangers, would have the interests of very rare and highly endangered African wildlife at the heart of their existence; but they showed nothing more than indifference to the whole situation, even joking that they were better off knocking them on the head because they wouldn’t survive anyway. Nice. Ever thought of actually giving a damn?

Regardless of a complete lack of support from WCS, South Africa was looking promising. South Sudan had agreed to release the leopards; perhaps they knew full well that they didn’t have the capacity to protect them here and were under growing pressure from wildlife organisations to do so – or get them out. A wildlife sanctuary in South Africa with an experienced, passionate owner that already had leopards in his care was prepared to take them, which came with the blessing of their government.

With the adopted mother of the cubs scheduled to go on leave, a new temporary home needed to be found for them. Some friends at WCS agreed to take care of the leopards in their compound in Juba, so they were transferred. And this was where it all started going wrong.

While the carers clearly became very attached to their new charges, they were clearly very happy with their new found popularity once word got out in Juba that there were two leopard cubs in their midst. Every man and his dog was invited to come and play with the leopards, which we were pretty annoyed about considering how careful we had been about limiting human interaction with them, wanting to keep them as wild as possible (even though inevitably they would lose some of their ‘wildness’ given how young they had come into our care and the length of time they were kept in captivity; but this is why we were so keen to get them out ASAP). They did continue to grow however, and their appetites with them; at last report, consuming a goat a week between them. Awesome! I don’t think our friends at WCS were prepared for the out of pocket expenses that came with their babysitting...

But then the South Sudanese Government suddenly back-flipped on their commitment to relocate the leopards and decided to keep them in the country. I’m sure someone had a word in the ear of the big people in the Ministry of Wildlife at just how valuable a couple of highly endangered big cats were. The next thing we knew, Wildlife Officers (essentially army guys with AK47s) turned up at the WCS compound and demanded the leopards be handed over.

To the WCS guys’ bemusement, the soldiers had turned up with a dual cab pick-up, and were planning on putting the leopards in the back seat, while they drove in the front. No cage in which to put the leopards; what would you need that for?! To the bemusement of the soldiers and the WCS guys, one of the leopards then escaped through the back window, which had been left open, and went and hid under the house. The soldiers looked at each other, not knowing what to do, and then told the WCS guys to get it out for them. Not likely. Get it yourself buddy!

I wish I had been a fly on the wall in that vehicle on their drive back to the Juba Ministry of Wildlife compound. I bet those soldiers were swiped a few times, not only by the terrible drunk drivers on the Juba roads (their fellow soldiers and policemen) but also by a couple of big paws – with sharp claws to boot.

From there we lost track of the leopards. Which has been heart breaking.

Various stories were reported about their whereabouts; the first one being that the cubs were transported to an orphaned antelope (!) sanctuary (free daily lunch for some growing cats?) in Kajo Keji, between Juba and the Ugandan border. The other was that they remained in the Wildlife Ministry compound in Juba. Either way, the whole issue had become VERY political, and neither WCS nor anyone else was allowed anywhere near either location. In my efforts to find out, I contacted a South Sudanese-Australian from Kajo Keji whom I knew via a friend at home, and was told in no uncertain terms that I was very unwelcome to visit Kajo Keji and that this issue was highly controversial.

I remain extremely worried that the following thing(s) have either happened, or will happen, to these beautiful leopards.

1. They are illegally trafficked over the border, making some South Sudanese government officials very wealthy men;
2. They are sold either domestically or internationally as pets, or to an illegal sanctuary;
3. They are killed for their skins; or
4. They end up in cages in a South Sudan Wildlife Ministry or private compound somewhere, making money from paying “tourists” for the rest of their lives.

I just wish we could find out where they are.

Sadly, wildlife are not high on the priority list of anyone here in a country still recovering from war, that struggles to feed itself and to deal with major corruption. They’re not excuses though. There are enough organisations working here that can and should prevent things like this happening. Yes, WCS, I’m looking at you.