The NPA’s war on leopards and the wildlife laws

Landmark Foundation’s work focuses on leopards. South African law is unambiguous on the subject of leopards. The species is listed as vulnerable and protected under the Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) Regulations promulgated under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 (NEMBA). To trap, capture, handle or kill a leopard without a permit constitutes a criminal offence. The maximum penalty is a fine of R10 million, imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both. The Western Cape Nature Conservation Ordinance of 1974 adds further prohibitions: no person may hunt a protected wild animal without a permit, and no person may use a trap to hunt any wild animal without a permit. The Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962 provides independent grounds for prosecution wherever cruelty can be established. Section 34 of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA), and NEMBA and TOPS provisions, create vicarious liability for environmental harm arising on land under a person’s control. The law, in other words, is comprehensive. What follows is a record of what happens when it is not enforced. The Heidelberg case: R1 000 for a leopard’s life On 2 July 2025, at the farm Doornkraal owned by Malan Rall in the Duivenhoks Valley near Heidelberg in the Western Cape, a sub-adult male leopard weighing 13kg, and no older than six months, was caught simultaneously in two gin traps. The traps had been set at a carcass dump where dead dairy calves had been used as bait. The animal had sustained compound comminuted fractures to two legs, which were incompatible with life. It died during the rescue attempt. There was no permit to use gin traps or to kill it. It could not, by any credible assessment, have been responsible for livestock losses justifying cruel lethal intervention. Malan Rall Heidelberg – 2 July 2025 The case was investigated by CapeNature and reported to the police. It was prosecuted in the magistrate’s court. On 20 October 2025, presi