Leopards return to South Africa's west coast after 170-year absence

Small numbers of leopards are returning to South Africa's West Coast after an absence of more than 170 years.

Jeannine McManus, acting director, Landmark Rewilding Trust said "So, it's quite a landmark, historical, conservation event, spotting leopard,

the last free-roaming apex predator in South Africa in most of its range, for the first time in 170 years in the site.

So, it's been absent in that area for over one and a half centuries. And, the fact that they've come back, walking through quite a transformed landscape,

is very encouraging for conservation because most of the time we hear these very disappointing stories about the loss of another species,

animals being killed, and less and less space for them. So, the fact that we're seeing the opposite in the West Coast area is a really unusual event."

The hunting of leopards started with European settlement in the 17th century and resulted in the loss of leopards in the West Coast region by the 19th century.

Now probably originating from the mountainous Cederberg region to the north, leopards are returning to the West Coast region.