Saving four leopards in one

A satellite collar saved Brandy the leopard's life on Heritage Day.

When the tracking device showed she had been stationary for 48 hours, ecologist John Power tracked her down in the Magaliesberg, where she had been caught in a snare.

Power called in the Leopard Rapid Response Unit, and a helicopter was mobilised.

Brandy was darted and then airlifted to Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital where Dr Katja Koeppel and her team from the Johannesburg Zoo collected the leopard.

A wire cable had wrapped around Brandy's chest so tightly, said Koeppel, that "another millimetre and the snare would have lacerated her lung".

After a two-hour operation, Brandy was stitched up and rehydrated. She is currently in a stable condition.

But the story was far from over. An examination revealed Brandy was pregnant with three cubs.

Power released Brandy into the wild four months ago after she was rescued from a farmer who, it is believed, planned to use her in an illegal hunt.

According to Bob Boden, the founder of Leopards for the Future, Brandy lunged at Power when he tracked her down. That's when he called in the special unit.

It is the first time that the Rapid Response Unit - which Boden formed after a leopard died in Hartebeesthoek in January after being caught in a snare - has successfully saved a leopard.

Said Boden: "The beauty of this is that everyone worked together."

The goal now is to get Brandy healthy enough for her to give birth to her cubs in the wild .

Koeppel fears that if Brandy gives birth at the zoo, the stress could cause her to kill her cubs. They also need to find a new home for Brandy that is free of snares.