Leopards go home to Africa
TRICIA HOLFORD, THE BORN FREE FOUNDATION’S RESCUE CO-ORDINATOR, REPORTS ON THE JOURNEY OF THE LIMASSOL LEOPARDS TO THEIR NEW HOME
30.5.09 – at last, the day of transfer from zoo to wildlife reserve is about to begin for Leda, Roxanni and Rhea. These three leopards, as beautiful to us as the Greek Godesses they are named after, are about to start a new chapter in their lives. It is the result of years of campaigning and months of preparation. Mayor Christou, whose permission to rehome the leopards has made all this possible, is here to witness the event. Born Free’s senior veterinary consultant begins darting the leopards and he and Tony Wiles, our animal handler, load the sleeping leopards into the crates. It must be difficult for Dr Lambrou, the zoo’s Director, and for the keepers who had looked after them but everyone is very kind and helpful. For Patricia and Kyriacos Kyriacou, of ARC (Animal Responsibility Cyprus), their feelings are straightforward. They have worked hard for this day, and are relieved to see the cage standing empty at last. It was once divided to house bears, lions, the leopards and a solitary primate.
Permits are stamped, anaesthetics are reversed, and we are on our way, the generosity of sponsors already in evidence.
GENEROUS SPONSORS
Nick Hughes, from Orbit Moving and Storage Ltd, the company transporting the leopards to Paphos Airport, and arranging all the paperwork, has donated all his costs and fees, and when we arrive at the airport we are greeted by representatives of another sponsor: Thomson Airways, generously donating the flights to Gatwick Airport of the leopards. Britannia Airways, now Thomson Airways, donated the flights of the first ever lions and a leopard we rescued, and the relationship continues to this day. Other sponsors too were making this day possible: our friendly insurance company elephant.co.uk and the Guernsey Wildlife Trust.
31.5.09, 1.00am – we arrive at Gatwick airport and are whisked off to Heathrow Airport by JCS Livestock Carriers. We had hoped to catch a couple of hours sleep in a hotel, but the paperwork takes longer to deal with than anticipated, so we check in at Heathrow Airport at 5.30am with only time for a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Whenever we had checked on the leopards they looked quiet and comfortable, and I hoped they truly were as comfortable as they appeared.
Next stop South Africa
8.10pm – we arrive in Johannesburg. We are now in Africa but with still a long way to go. We have to go to the Customs Department for our Paperwork to be checked. It is a noisy place, with fork-lifts bleeping and people calling out to each other. Normally the leopards would have to wait there overnight for our connecting flight, but fortunately the company arranging our Customs Clearance, Air Alternative Africa, have allowed us to use their nice, quiet warehouse. We cannot offer the leopards any food, in case they are sick at a stage in the journey where we cannot monitor or help them if there are complications, but we ensure their water is topped up, and leave them in peace. By now it is nearly midnight……..Just chance for us to get a few hours in bed!
1.6.09 4.30am – the alarm goes. Time to go and check in for last leg of the journey. Express Air Services have kindly donated the leopards’ flights to our destination at Port Elizabeth. The poor leopards have no idea that their journey will soon be at an end.
8.10am – We arrive at Port Elizabeth airport with our precious cargo and the Shamwari team are there to meet us. There are hugs and kisses all round – this is the 10th time we have turned up at ‘PE’ with needy lions and leopards, since our first rescue in 1995, and it feels like a family reunion.
We take one final peek into the crates – the leopards stare back at us. They are very quiet and still, sitting as far back from us as they can, and my heart aches for them. If only we could explain this long journey will soon be over.
The crates are carefully loaded into the back of three ‘bakkies’ and we set off on the 40 minute drive to Shamwari.
11.00 am - The three crates are positioned outside the three adjoining hospital camps. The mother, Leda, will be released into her hospital camp first. Virginia McKenna climbs on top of the crate and slowly slides up the wooden door. Leda remains where she is! Just inches from her nose she will be able to see sandy soil and grass and bushes. For the last 15 years in Limassol Zoo, the only greenery would have been outside the bars or the backdrop of trees painted on the concrete walls of her cage. We wait patiently and quietly for her to be brave enough to take that first step onto African soil. I wonder what Virginia is thinking – “if only”? If only the Limassol authorities had agreed to release the other animals sooner? So many animals have died since the campaigns of Born Free and ARC began 19 years ago; Leda’s mate died only last year. Or was the overwhelming feeling one of relief that, for these three leopards at least, a happy ending is about to take place.
15 minutes pass and then suddenly Leda bolts out of her crate. Keeping low to the ground she heads straight for the cover of a thick bush and remains hidden. We leave her to her privacy and move on to the release of Roxanni, Leda’s 11 year old daughter.
Children's author and journalist, Lauren St John, gets on to the crate and prepares to haul up the wooden door. In her native Zimbabwe, Lauren was painfully aware of the many wild leopards snared, poisoned or trapped and cruelly dispatched by farmers protecting their livestock , even though more humane solutions are available. Her special sympathy for leopards had inspired Lauren to start the ‘Last Leopard Fund’ to help fund Born Free’s work protecting these wonderful animals.
Roxanni was the most timid of the three leopards and, sure enough, as soon as she emerged, she went straight into the nearby wooden shelter, and remained there
The last to be released was Rhea, Roxanni’s twin. Supporter of The Last Leopard Fund and BAFTA-nominated actress Ruth Wilson, perhaps best known in the UK for her critically acclaimed portrayal of Jane Ayre, did the honours.
Rhea leapt out immediately. She too rushed to the cover of the nearest bush and crouched behind it, making herself as small as possible.
I wish we could tell Leda, Roxanni and Rhea what a wonderful new life they have ahead of them but for the first few days I know that they will probably feel frightened and vulnerable by all they are experiencing. All their lives they have lived on the unyielding surface of concrete, now the grass and sandy soil underfoot must feel very strange; they have always had a roof over their heads – now there are the wide African skies. The voices of the animals and the people must sound alien and unnerving to their ears. But big cats are very resilient. I know they will soon be transformed from timid captives to magnificent wild animals.
2.6.09 – The Mail on Sunday newspaper in Britain covered our very first rescue and have been staunch supporters ever since, and we had a photographer and journalist from the Mail on Sunday travelling with us to record the event and try to help us raise funds for the leopards’ life-time care. Today they are joined by their colleagues from the South African media to watch the release of the leopards from their hospital camps into the large bush enclosure. We explain that we are unlikely to see the emergence of these most secretive of the big cats and, as we expected, Leda, Roxanne and Rhea remain in hiding. Our media friends are understanding though, despite many having travelled long distances to be there. Virginia McKenna is interviewed by them about her feelings on this special day.
Today is particularly moving for Virginia. Her husband and our founder, the late Bill Travers, had alerted us all to the conditions in the zoo, after his first visit to investigate complaints in 1990. Today was the culmination of the efforts of Bill and ARC to get the wild animals from the zoo phased out – efforts now supported by the Cyprus authorities. Attitudes to captive wildlife have been transformed in recent years, and the mental and physical suffering that can be caused by captivity is now widely recognised.
The leopards’ neighbours
As the media depart, we walk round the camps of the other big cats. Most of them are basking in the afternoon sunshine. It is such a contrast to their former lives. Jools and Jerry, the lions from the squalid Buhusi Zoo in Romania are transformed from the terrified individuals I had first seen. Now Jerry remains at the fence-line talking to us in low, friendly moans while his mother, once so rabidly protective of her son, remains lying down, relaxed and at ease. Kuma the leopard next door, is sleeping too, perhaps not fully aware of the three beautiful females he now has as neighbours! The lion ‘cubs’, Marina and Sarnia, found abandoned in Romania, are ooohed and aaahed over. They have changed from gangly, fluffy youngsters into svelte, sleek sub-adults. We watched as Marina playfully teased her companion, Brutus from a French circus, who could not be enticed to chase but lay yawning and rolling on the grass, seemingly very content with his lot. Lastly, Shada, also from a French circus watched us from the cover of bushes on the hillside in her camp, no longer terrified of people, but just too lazy to come over and check us out. I hoped it wouldn’t be much longer before the three leopards would be equally as content.
3.6.09 – We pay another visit to the leopards. Rhea and Roxanni are still hiding in their wooden houses, but during the night Roxanni has eaten a little of the meat we had offered her, and Leda is now lying more in the open, only partially hidden by undergrowth.
How you can help
The leopards still need your support for their care at Shamwari - please help by calling Born Free on 01403 240170 or you can donate online here >
or by becoming a Born Free Champion when you buy one of these stylish T-shirts (as worn by Lauren St John below).
- Lauren St John and big cat rescue expert Tony Wiles with one of the leopards before the move
Visit the leopards on a Shamwari holiday
9.6.09 – Reports from Shamwari show the leopards are slowly starting to settle in. Roxanni is the most relaxed. She eats her food eagerly and when those who care for her, arrive with her meat, she will follow them around the fence, waiting for her meal. She has even been sitting on the roof of her little wooden shelter in the hospital camp, to help her get a better view. Leda and Rhea, on the other hand, have only just started eating all the meat being given to them, and are still keeping a low profile in the undergrowth for much for time.
11.6.09 – Rhea and Roxanni are being seen on either side of the sliding gate that separates them, looking at each other, and showing no signs of aggression. In Limassol, although they had all lived together happily as a family group while their father was alive, he was euthanased last year because of the pain from his arthritis and, a few months after his death, Leda and Rhea started bullying Roxanni. In the end the zoo separated them, so mother and Rhea were living together in one half of the cage, and Roxanni was alone in the other. It was good to hear that no aggression is being seen between the two since their arrival at Shamwari. It is something we will have to be aware of though, when all three are released into the main enclosure.
Like Roxanni, Rhea is now coming up to the fence when she sees food arriving although mum still waits for the food to be deposited and her carers to walk away, before she emerges from her bush to take the meat.
It is their body language that indicates best their more relaxed state of mind: they no longer slink around close to the ground, but walk normally. When we are happy that the leopards are settled in an relaxed with the care team, they will be released into their large enclosure
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