Jakarta Globe, Vento
Saudale, October 17, 2013
A rare Javan leopard has been caught alive by a conservation team in Sukabumi, West Java, after residents reported that the animal had been seen wandering around the outskirts of their village.
A Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas) caught on camera trap Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, West Java, Indonesia. (Photo courtesy of CIFOR) |
A rare Javan leopard has been caught alive by a conservation team in Sukabumi, West Java, after residents reported that the animal had been seen wandering around the outskirts of their village.
A team from
the Indonesian Wildlife Conservation Forum (Foksi) at Taman Safari Indonesia
caught the critically endangered animal last week. Residents had earlier
reported seeing the leopard near Girimukti village, in Ciemas subdistrict, and
the team caught the animal to prevent it from being killed.
Locals
suspected the big cat had been preying on livestock.
“In the
past few weeks I have been communicating with some of the residents to prevent
the Javan leopard from getting killed,” Hendra, one of the team members, told
the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.
He said he
and his team began honing in on the leopard’s whereabouts on Friday by
following its footprints and droppings. The team then placed two cages in the
area, baiting the cages with live goats to trap the leopard.
“Last
Saturday night, the villagers heard some noise and they suspected the leopard
had entered the cage to prey on the livestock,” Hendra said.
The team
estimated the male leopard to be between 8 and 9 years old and to weigh about
45 to 50 kilograms. The leopard was taken away by the West Java Natural
Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) along with local officials, and was
brought to Taman Safari zoo in Cisarua, Bogor.
Earlier
this month, a Javan leopard was shot dead after it invaded a house in a village
in the East Java district of Lumajang and attacked three officials who were
attempting to capture it.
The
leopard, believed to be from the forest-covered slopes of nearby Mount Semeru,
ran into the house in Sumber village after being spotted and subsequently
chased down by local residents who were attempting to drive it away, according
to Taman Safari Indonesia director Tony Sumampauw.
The big cat
invaded a house belonging to Mulyadi, who immediately fled along with his
family. The villagers asked for help from the local authorities, and a team
from Taman Safari II in Prigen, East Java, was sent to capture the animal.
When the
team arrived, they found a crowd surrounding Mulyadi’s house and immediately
launched efforts to check on the animal.
As they
opened the door to take a look at the leopard, it attacked two officials from
Taman Safari and a police officer. Another police officer then immediately shot
the animal.
The three
officials attacked by the leopard sustained minor injuries and were treated at
a hospital.
The Javan
leopard ( Panthera pardus melas ) is a leopard subspecies that exists in the
wild only on Java.
It has been
classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation
of Nature since 2008, with the population estimated to be less than 250 mature
individuals. It is protected under Indonesian law.
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