Poaching the Spotted

African Wildlife Foundation

 Farhaana Khan
March 4, 2018

Table of Contents

Introduction

All about leopards...……………………….……………………….... 3

Purpose……………………………………..................…………..…. 3

Problem

What is poaching? …………….……………………..……….…...… 4

What does poaching mean for the environment? ….……….…… 4-5

Solution

What can be done to prevent poaching? ....…..….……………… 5-6

How does the solution resolve the problem?...……….……..... 6-7

Conclusion ……………………………………………….………7-8

References …………………….………………………………….. 9

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 Farhaana Khan
March 4, 2018

Abstract

All About Leopards

The panthera pardus, which is mostly known by the common name, leopard, is the
smallest cat amongst the big cats: tigers, lions, and jaguars. Leopards can be found
mostly on the continent of Africa, Asia, and in some regions of Europe as well. Leopards
are nocturnal and solitary animals. This means that leopards spend most of their time
roaming alone and they generally do their hunting during the night time. Because
leopards hunt alone, they usually opt for hunting smaller animals such as hoofed animals
like gazelles, impalas, and wildebeests in addition to other small animals. Since leopards
are known to be very quick and agile, they can easily fetch their prey high up into trees in
order to hide and protect their meals from other predators that does not have the ability
to climb trees such as lions and hyenas.
The purpose of this report coming from the African Wildlife Foundation is to make
awareness in order to protect these wonderful animals and preventing them from
humans’ harm. This document will be a start to implementing concern for leopards, not
just from the organization’s point of view, but from the society’s point of view. For many
years, humans have been hunting exotic animals for many purposes; the main purpose is
for the money. Leopards are known for their magnificent printed fur and are being
poached for it. The society as a whole should strive to protect these animals rather than
harming them and taking their lives’ for personal, self-interested benefits.

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 Farhaana Khan
March 4, 2018

Purpose and Problem

What is Poaching?
The word poaching itself, according to Dictionary.com, means the illegal practice of
trespassing on a property to hunt or steal game without permission or a license. As
stated by thewildlifemuseum, the poaching restrictions are in place to ensure that the
harvest is sustainable and the species remains healthy. Poaching does not follow the
same conditions of regulated hunting and is detrimental to the species.
The main reason that people poach animals is to sell the animals and parts of the
animals. Because it is an illegal action, these occurrences, the buying and selling of
leopard’s fur, organs, and bones, will mostly be found in the black market. It is crucial for
people to protect leopards and all other animals from being poached and protect them
from other horrific acts of harm that is caused by humans.

What does poaching do to the environment?

According to National Geographic, poachers have killed at least 450 big cats that are
considered as endangered over the span of eight years from 2008 to 2016. There are
plenty of reasons why leopards are being killed. Although their famously spotted fur coat
is the most common and widely known reason that leopards are killed, leopards are
known for being poached for their bones as well. It is also known that some hunters may
illegally hunt leopards so that they have a better chance while hunting for deer and other
animals. By injuring or perhaps killing the leopards, hunters remove competition for
hunting the same animals, prey, which the leopards hunt. Snow leopards, which are
located in Central Asia, are being poached because some herders try to kill them to
assure protection for their own farm animals and livestock.

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The Amur Leopards, typically only found in Russia and in parts of China, are considered to
be one of the world’s most endangered species of big cats. In fact, it is listed as critically
endangered because there are about only 40 or less individual Amur Leopards left in the
world. If hunting this specific specie was legal, they would become extinct.

Laws against poaching are there to save species’ population and to protect the wellbeing
of animals. Because a large number of exotic species are closer to the endangered side of
the spectrum, the threats of poaching them and hunting for them could lead the species
towards being extinct at a faster rate than it should be. In correspondence with that,
poaching animals at an unnatural rate would cause changes to the food chain’s supply
and demand. There would be a higher number of prey but not enough predators, most
likely skewing the ratio of predators to prey.

Solutions

What can be done to prevent poaching?

There are many steps that can be taken in order to ensure safety for leopards and all the
other animals from being illegally injured or killed. One way to stop poachers is to turn
the regions where the leopards live into a wildlife sanctuary. The African Wildlife
Foundation is creating a wildlife sanctuary will cause less traffic from going through those
territories. Part of this solution is training law enforcement, rangers, and community
members to protect the leopards from poachers. There will be a reward for those that
act in protection for the leopards to guarantee that the people will look out for other
fellow species. By doing this, poachers can be caught and be dealt with according to the

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law and it will provide a refuge for the leopards. The African Wildlife Foundation hopes
that by doing this, it will cause poachers to understand that they will not get off easily
with killing animals if they are caught.
Another step towards anti-poaching is to educate people about the harms of it.
Educating people about these animals and the importance of each animal’s life might
make them reconsider their harmful actions. The plan to educate people would be
through public awareness by letting it be known that poaching is a life or death issue for
animals and that killing these animals could lead to the end of the species’ existence,
their extinction.

How does the solution resolve the problem?

The first solution, creating wildlife sanctuaries for the leopards, will establish new laws

for those specific vicinities. It will allow people to look out for leopards and other

endangered species. To guarantee that the law enforcements, rangers, and community

members will do the job properly, there will be a reward for those that act in protection

for the leopards and follow the anti- poaching laws. Part of the wildlife sanctuary’s law

would be that less traffic would go through those regions. If there is less traffic, the

chances are less likely to allow poachers to enter into those regions. If poachers

somehow manage to get into a refuge territory and start harming the leopards, there will

be less people to search for in order to find those that are harming the animals. A good

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example of how to enforce this would be the Kruger National Park located in Africa. The

Kruger has rangers and guides that helps to protect the animals. The people do not

disrupt the animals’ wildlife habits; they let the animals live as they should. The guides

and rangers are there just to protect the animals from other humans.

The second solution is to make awareness of the problem. By doing this, people would

open their eyes to harmful actions that others cause and they would spread the word.

The education could be done in any form: courses, social media, handouts, and projects.

The African Wildlife Foundation believes that creating awareness will help towards

stopping poachers because they will be able to see that injuring and killing these animals

can lead to a very dark future for the species and will negatively affect the flow of nature.

The problem with the second solution is that poachers could ignore the information they

see or read about and carry on believing that harming these animals is not an important

problem.

Conclusion
Humans have caused harm to many parts of nature. Poaching is one way that people

have changed nature’s natural ways. However, unlike some of the other harmful actions

the people do, poaching can be easily prevented. Poaching is the act of illegally harming

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and killing specific animals. Ways to defend against such harmful acts is to transform the

regions of the leopards’ habitat into a wildlife sanctuary by creating laws to make certain

the safety of the leopards. Another way to provide security for leopards is to bring into

existence the problems of killing and harming them. Presenting information and

educating society about saving species may help towards preventing poachers from

poaching.

What real benefits are there in harming another creature? If money is the reason, there

are more ethical ways to get it. If saving livestock is the reason, the farmers and herders

can contact wildlife protection agencies to make sure leopards stay away from their lands

in a safe and proper manner that would not cause any sort of harm. There is always a

solution if it means a better and more ethical society.

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References

https://defenders.org/leopard/basic-facts

https://www.thewildlifemuseum.org/exhibits/stealing-wildlife/poaching-is-not-hunting/what-is-
poaching/

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/poaching

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33699347

http://www.altaconservation.org/amur-leopard/

https://russia.wcs.org/en-us/Wildlife/Amur-Leopards/Conservation-Threats.aspx

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/snow-leopards-kyrgyzstan-conservation-endangered/

http://vestiprim.com/news/436-amur-leopard.html

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