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LEOPARD TROPHY EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS FROM SOUTH AFRICA

WITHOUT CONSCIENCE FROM 2016 TO MAY 2021

PLEASE READ FULL DOCUMENT WHICH INCLUDES THE TABLES OF INFORMATION:

Without-Conscience_LEOPARD-exports-and-reexports-from-South-Africa-2016-to-2021Download

Official information obtained by the EMS Foundation from the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment via the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) pertaining to leopard exports from one South African port of exit revealed that:

  1. 20 live leopards were exported from the Free State, North West, Gauteng and Limpopo provinces. 
  2. In 2016− eight leopards to Canada, Chile, China, Côte d’Ivoire and the Philippines
  3. In 2018−six leopards from the Free State to China. 
  4. In 2019−six leopards to China and Vietnam. 
  • From 2016 to May 2021, at least 260 export, import and re-export permits were issued by South African authorities for trophy hunted leopards. These included permits for the export and re-export of 380 leopard body part (including full bodies, skulls, skins and bones) to 205 hunters/individuals as follows: 
  • 109 “full mounts”/bodies (37 exports and 72 re-exports);
  • 171 skulls (59 exports and 112 re-exports)
  • 78 skins (33 exports and 45 re-exports)
  •  8 rug-mounts (4 exports and 4 re-exports)
  • 14 ‘floating’ bones (8 exports and 6 re-exports) 
  • An analysis of the permit data from 2016 to May 2021 from this single South African port of exit, also shows that:
  • The United States of America was the biggest importer of leopard trophies from and through South Africa, accounting for 231 trophy parts−over 60% of the exports and re-exports from South Africa.
  • Countries South Africa imported leopard body parts from−largely for presumed re-export include: Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
  • South Africa is a major gateway in the trade in leopard body parts by the trophy hunting industry. 
  • According to LEDET, 4 male leopards were hunted in Limpopo in 2020:
  • Two in the Vhembe District (Maswiri Farms and Oatland 251MS)
  • One in the Mopani District (Portion 18 & 19 of the farm Harmony 140 KT)
  • One in the Capricorn District (Portion of farm Rondebosch 157 MR and Doornfontein 155 MR)

5. Below is a breakdown of the exports and re-exports from South African for this period.

[1] The exports from South Africa also included 83 vials of leopard blood from Mpumalanga to Florida in the USA in 2019.

Image Credit: Brian Abrahamson

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