SANParks bans the naming of Leopards on facebook.

[Lisbeth]

The post from SP on FB

[Mel]

[Bushcraft]

People need to share sightings on a non-SanParks FB page then and name the leos there.
Nothing SP can do about that

There has been a "leopards of Kruger" facebook page for a few years and I have been a member for some time now and have learnt a fair amount about certain Kruger leopards.

The positive impact the naming has had on my kids is amazing as they call certain leopards by name now and 1 even came to me yesterday and said "Sausage was back on Lubyelubye today", etc. (Sausage is what my kids call him but his "real" name is the "Jackelberry Male" named after a tree he loves to sit in.)

There's even 1 called "Dunlop" because he bites car tyres, my kids can even ID him.

I see no harm in this and it creates a personal bond in many cases which can only be good for interest in a species and it's long term conservation, so IMO Sanparks are firstly making a "mountain out of a mole hill" , they have pissed off a bunch of local visitors and they lack insight into the affect and bond this creates which will assist in the conservation of the species in a modern world.

[Richprins]

I think they have bigger things to worry about...

[Lisbeth]

Maybe they want to forget about the primary things and try to hide behind the trifles

[Dzombo]

Maybe I am being overly cynical.....

A few years ago when in the USA I was standing by the Hippo cage at a zoo. Employee giving a presentation / talk
Some kiddy asks what the name of the Hippo was? Lady says they don't give the Hippos names. When asked why, she said that their Hippos breed regularly and they often send surplus to other zoos. The don't want people constantly asking where "Bob" is when he has been moved elsewhere.

[Lisbeth]

That cannot be the case of Sanparks though

[Bushcraft]

Remember Cecil the lion who was shot, the national and international outcry, the highlight it put on lion hunting and conservation of lion, etc.

Do you think this would have happened if it was just a lion with no name

BTW hundreds of lion with no names are killed a year and it doesn't make any form of news

[Richprins]

They allow leopard and cheetah-naming in KTP?

And love giving their own names to Kruger elephant?

[Lisbeth]

SANParks is not exactly coherent or it's the same ol': the right hand does not know what the left is doing