National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (Act No. 10 of 2004)RegulationsNorms and Standards for the Trophy Hunting of Leopard in South Africa, 2023 - effective 1 April 20234. Management of Leopard Hunts |
| (1) | When a person hunts a leopard in a particular LHZ in respect of which a leopard hunting quota has been allocated, he or she may hunt an adult male leopard only, in which case such male leopard must be seven years of age or older. |
| (2) | Any person who hunts a leopard has a duty of care to ensure that he or she hunts such leopard in a manner that would not lead to the disruption of the affected leopard population. |
| (3) | In the event that a female leopard or an under-aged male leopard has been hunted in a particular LHZ, the issuing authority may not allocate a leopard hunting quota in respect of the affected LHZ in the following hunting season. |
| (4) | A local hunter, or a professional hunter on behalf of his or her hunting client, should use a trail or scouting camera to assist him or her to assess whether the leopard to be hunted, is a male leopard of the age of seven years or older. |
| (5) | The local hunter, or professional hunter on behalf of his or her hunting client, as the case may be, must inform the environmental management inspector contemplated in subparagraph (6) of a leopard hunted, whether the hunted leopard involved a male seven years of age or older,a female leopard or an under-aged male leopard, within 12 hours of completion of the hunt. |
| (6) | An environmental management inspector of the Department or the relevant issuing authority, or an environmental management inspector of any other provincial conservation authority who has the mandate in terms of his or her appointment to conduct national inspections, must inspect the carcass of the hunted leopard prior to skinning within 24 hours of the hunt taking place. The relevant issuing authority must provide the contact details of such environmental management inspector to the local hunter, or to the relevant professional hunter before commencement of the hunt. |
| (7) | The environmental management inspector contemplated in subparagraph (6) must collect a small skin sample (2-3 mm) of the hunted leopard for genetic profiling purposes and, if satisfied that the leopard is a male over the age of seven years, issue a pre-approval tag in respect of the inspected hunting trophy, at which point the hunting trophy may be released to a taxidermy or similar facility . |
| (8) | The environmental management inspector contemplated in subparagraph (6) must use a DNA sampling kit approved by the Forensic Services Division of the South African Police Service, when he or she collects the skin sample. |
| (9) | The collected skin sample must be sent to a facility registered as a scientific institution in terms of the TOPS Regulations and approved by the Director-General, as soon as possible after it has been collected. |
| (10) | The facility contemplated in subparagraph (9) must record the genetic profiling information and make such information available to the Department. |
| (11) | The local hunter or the hunting client, as the case may be, is responsible for the cost incurred in respect of the genetic profiling contemplated in subparagraph (7). |