From snared to swimming: A breakthrough tale

This is the success story of a young male Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), the islands apex terrestrial predator, a threatened and endemic subspecies, who was rescued and treated after being caught in a wire snare, who defied the odds and successfully returned to its home range not just by walking, but swimming.

- Jaqualine Yee, Anjali Watson & Andrew Kittle from the Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust

Rescue and initial intervention

On Christmas Eve of December 2022, a male leopard was caught in a wire snare around the chest, and was found clinging to survival by tea estate workers at Mantreetenna, Ragala which is a human-dominated, unprotected expanse of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. Upon being alerted, the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) initiated a rescue protocol and within 30 minutes arrived on scene to anaesthetize and begin the rescue procedure, which involved carefully freeing the animal from the snare. Due to the severity of the snare-induced injury, the leopard was transported to the Randenigala Wildlife Health Management Unit (RWHMU) for further investigation.

Treatment and recovery

Upon further investigations at RWHMU, it was clear that surgical intervention was needed to reconstruct the intensive damage done by the snare, and to prevent further complications. The leopard was safely transported to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine & Animal Sciences (FVMAS) at the University of Peradeniya for the surgery, and then transported back to RWHMU post-op for what would be a four-month road to recovery.

The leopard received comprehensive veterinary care and rehabilitation. These measures included wound management, behavioural monitoring, and ensuring the leopard was sufficiently healed and physically fit before movement.

Protocols were strict and strategic at RWHMU with only 2 staff members being tasked with treatment and feeding, so as not to habituate the leopard to human presence and to preserve the animal's wild instincts.