Monaco leopards released in SA
2008-01-09 21:23
Shamwari Game Reserve - With a roar, Pitou the leopard bounded off into the African bushveld on Wednesday after a long flight from a Monaco zoo to her new home at an exclusive wildlife reserve.
Her brother Sirius was more reluctant and had to be coaxed to leave his cage.
The 16-year-old siblings had been handed over by Prince Albert of Monaco to the Born Free Foundation, an international wildlife charity, as part of a programme to relocate exotic animals from zoos.
They had been housed at the principality's cliff-top Jardin Animalier for the last five years after being rescued from a French travelling circus.
"It was becoming increasingly difficult to justify keeping large animals here," Albert said on Monday when he and the foundation's founder, actress Virginia McKenna, watched the leopards being sedated in preparation for their flight.
Accompanied by McKenna, the leopards left the zoo in a cavalcade to Nice airport and then were taken by private charter direct to London before heading to South Africa.
They arrived in Johannesburg early on Tuesday morning to great excitement of cargo-handling staff at OR Tambo International Airport.
"They are travelling in a very calm manner so although they are no longer sedated and they are fully awake they will arrive in a good condition," John Knight, the foundation's vet, said at the Johannesburg stop.
"I have every confidence that these leopards will adapt really well to the conditions here in South Africa.
The leopards were then taken by road to the game reserve, near the southern coastal town of Port Elizabeth.
They were released into a just over one-hectare enclosure where they will live out the rest of their lives.
"It is a privilege for the foundation to receive these beautiful leopards and to re-home them to their rightful place, Africa," McKenna said in a statement ahead of the relocation.
- AP