WINDHOEK, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's leopard population is under threat, the latest leopard census states.
According to the census report titled "The Namibian leopard: national census and sustainable hunting practices", Namibia's leopard population has dropped by over 2,000 in eight years from over 14,000 in 2011 to 11,700 this year.
The report states that the killing of problem leopards without reporting it to the environment ministry is one of the greatest threats to the Namibian leopard population.
"Between October 2016 to December 2018, Ministry of Environment and Tourism had a record of approximately 196 problem leopards being removed by 190 individuals across Namibia. In the same period, a sample size of 157 questionnaire respondents claimed to have removed 342 problem leopards from freehold farms," the report states.
In addition, the report states that, the killing of problem leopards has been exacerbated by the ongoing drought which has resulted in an increase of human wildlife conflict cases.
"As conflict increases, so does the number of leopards labelled as problem animals, indiscriminate of age or sex being removed from the farmland and in turn the population," the report states.
The Namibia leopard national census and sustainable hunting practices study ran from September 2017 to March 2019.
The census was conducted in partnership with the Namibia Professional Hunting Association and the Environment Ministry.
