Today, we were up very early at 5 AM to continue tracking Mothmongwe. Unfortunately, tracking him today proved even more difficult than yesterday. After tracking Mothmongwe for 6 and a half hours again today, we didn’t even have a single good darting opportunity. We almost had darting opportunities twice, but both of these times he was hiding in a bush 30 feet from our vehicle. With all of the branches on the bushes, and given his distance from us, the dart would not be able to reach him accurately. Every time we tried to inch up closer to him, he would bolt and run at full speed until he was a great enough distance away from us to feel more comfortable. He was incredibly elusive, and seemed to still be spooked from the dart gun yesterday. After a long day of trying to get close enough to dart him, we had to call it quits when the sun had set.
You could definitely tell that everyone’s souls today were a little frustrated, tired, and defeated. We had now spent 2 days tracking this leopard, only to go back to camp with nothing to show for it.
At this point, there was nothing more we could do but continue our work tomorrow.
Veterinary Medicine in Botswana 2013 