Leopards of Sabi Sands

[Luipaard]

(06-28-2021, 11:24 PM)Tonpa Wrote: What happened to him in the end? Disappeared into the Kruger?

Unknown to this date. This was posted around a week ago in the Facebook group 'Leopards of Djuma and Other Territories':

"Five years ago tomorrow, SINDILE was seen for the first time since being released back into the Sabi Sands. The excitement from James Hendry and Brent Leo-smith was palpable and as a viewer who had come just a few months after he had been quarantined, it was very exciting to meet him. Sindile was the reason Earline Rochester began this group, and here is a summarization of Sindile’s life to this (video) point in time: 

Sindile was the son of Shadow, Thandi’s sister, and grandson of Karula who was born in September 2014. When he was a year old, he was found with a domestic dog by game drive vehicles. The dog was still alive when WE and Brent arrived, but looked limp. Eventually, the Sabi Sands’ officials arrived and Brent got out of the vehicle to chase Sindile off the dog. When both hit the ground, Sindile and the dog ran off. The dog (which had likely come in from one of the communities bordering the Sabi Sands) as is mandatory, was found and euthanized two days later and eventually tested postive for rabies. Sindile was inoculated initially but the decision was eventually made to transfer him into a rehabilitation center, where he spent several months (at times it was believed he would not be eligible to be released). However, sometime in early 2016, he was released back into the system fitted with a radio transmitter collar which would intermittently give out GPS locations to researchers studying the movements of a dispersal age male leopard. Somehow, he managed to find his way back to his natal territory and was found this day on Djuma. Two days later, during a WE broadcast to the USA for Father’s Day, he was seen interacting with his mother, who had since given birth to a new cub. Shadow was calling for her new cub, but Sindile was responding to the calls himself, while Shadow was trying to prevent him from moving in the opposite direction. Sindile was seen several times throughout 2016 on the live safaris and was sighted for the last time on Valentine’s Day 2017 west of Djuma. The collar was supposed to fall off after a certain point in his growth but from my understanding, it did not and he had to be darted again to have it removed, which made him a bit more suspect of the vehicles than he had been. His current whereabouts are unknown, but he remains one of the most famous leopard of Djuma and Other Territories." Reply