Leopards are among Africa’s most skilled predators. With stealth, speed, and agility on their side, they reign over the night. Yet even these formidable hunters are no match for a poacher’s snare — and this young leopard was caught in not one, but two, of these deadly traps.
On 20th January 2025, we received a worrying report from the northern coast of Kenya: The National Youth Service in Lamu had spotted a snared leopard outside their camp.
Lamu County sits in the northern reaches of Kenya, tucked amidst the coastal mangrove forests that fringe the Indian Ocean. It is less than 200 kilometres from neighbouring Somalia — but far, far from the rest of our field operations.
This would be a mission for Sky Vets, our aerial veterinary initiative. Designed to reach wildlife in remote and inaccessible areas, Sky Vets ensures that no animal goes untreated. By mobilising our aerial capabilities, we were able to fly Dr Kariuki and the SWT/KWS Amboseli Mobile Vet Unit to the scene — a journey that would have been impossible by road.
The Amboseli Unit got up before dawn, to drive to our Kaluku Field Headquarters in Tsavo. From there, the SWT Caravan flew the team up to Lamu, making good time on its journey northward.
The team were confronted with a leopard entangled in not one, but two snares: He had a wire snare around his waist, as reported, and an old rope snare cinched around his foot. Left untreated, they would have certainly had life-threatening consequences. A leopard is only as strong as its hunting capabilities, and anything that hinders mobility can be a death sentence.
Fortunately, that was not the case. The team darted the patient from the ground and quickly moved in to remove the snares and treat the resultant wounds. Fortunately, both the rope and wire loops had yet caused lethal damage, although both had started to slice into the skin. Both snares were removed and confiscated, the wound treated, before the patient was revived.
With treatment complete, the team made a hasty exit — the day’s missions weren’t complete yet, and they had a long journey ahead of them! Our SWT/KWS Amboseli Mobile Vet Unit already had their next operation scheduled: an elephant postmortem in Tsavo West. Meanwhile, the leopard — a juvenile — had a long, full life awaiting him, now thankfully snare-free.