Death of a Leopard

Yesterday morning we have had some bad news regarding the death of one of our leopards.

The dead leopard was located on the Exeter property at the base of a large Leadwood tree. The animal had been severely attacked and suffered a fatal bite to the nape of the neck and the throat area. The leopard appeared to have been dead for a few hours already and we think the incident may have occurred sometime during the night or early hours of the morning.

The dead leopard was located on the Exeter property at the base of a large Leadwood tree north of the road. The animal had been severely attacked and suffered a fatal bite to the nape of the neck and the throat area. The leopard appeared to have been dead for a few hours already and we think the incident may have occurred sometime during the night or early hours of the morning.

We are not exactly sure which individual leopard it is, but currently we believe it is one of the two youngsters of the Ravenscourt female, which visit us occasionally from the East. It is truly remarkable but we have seen no less than 10 individual leopards in this area in the last week.

Looking at some of the facial features, yellowing of the teeth and condition of its ears we would say that this animal is still a youngster. We think it is a male but there had already been some substantial feeding on the rump of the animal making it difficult to see. There was a large female and another young looking leopard seen feeding on the carcass as well as sleeping in the tree above the carcass this morning.

We will give as much information as possible once we know more.

Thanks to Craig Paulson head guide at Exeter for the information and image.