Leopards of Sabi Sands

[Tonpa]

Some more details from Arathusa, quite a mystery 


"We appreciate the sentiments of many of our friends on this group, and for the sake of clarity we wanted to provide the sequence of events that lead to us finding Thandi dead on Monday.
On Saturday, an injured leopard to the east of the lodge was reported. Our team went out to investigate. The area was closed off to game drives to avoid stressing the animal. When we found Thandi on Saturday in the Boerbean open area - a small clearing surrounded by dense vegetation in a drainage line - she was mobile and capable of climbing a tree.
*Note: Our original post yesterday incorrectly indicated the Boerbean open area was where she was found on Monday. This was not the case.  
As to the exact cause of the wound, although some of our community indicated that another operator in the area had reported a sighting, we were not privy to it and do not have any insight as to how her injury was sustained.
On Sunday, despite our efforts to locate her, we were unsuccessful.
On Monday morning we sent an armed team on foot to look for Thandi, as the vegetation was too dense to navigate with a vehicle. This search eventually led us to her lifeless body – quite a considerable distance from where she was originally found.
In respect of the cycle of nature in the wild, Thandi’s body was left undisturbed as an integral part of the eco-system. Such is the law in nature – ‘From the earth we come, and to the earth we shall return’.
We hope this gives a little more insight into the sequence of events in respect of our actions taken between Saturday and Monday." Reply