The Leopard is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, and the sale or possession of its parts is illegal in South Africa. The leopard is also listed as "near threatened" by the International Union Conservation of Nature- and the sale or possession of its parts is illegal in South Africa.
Yet thousands of leopard skins are showing up and being used as essential attire for religious ceremonies, threatening the leopard with extinction.
150 leapards may be legally poached, but thousands are openly traded at church gathering with no law enforcement.
Stop the illegal slaughter of leopards immediately, and replace the leopards skin with fake fur.
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/16/world/africa/leopards-shembe-south-africa/index.html
President of South Africa
President Jacob Zuma
Union Buildings
Private Bag X1000,
Pretoria,
0001
Telephone: +27 (0)12 300 5200
Fax: +27 (0)12 323 8246
Email: presidentrsa@po.gov.za
Mr. John Macfarlane Sellar
Chief of Enforcement
CITES Secretariat
Maison Internationale de l’Environnement
Chatelaine-Geneva, Switzerland 1219
Tel: +41-229178293
E-mail: john.sellar@cites.org
