Raza's mother was caught by the National Parks in Matopos for translocation to Nigeria. It would take three months for all the legal documentation to be sorted out before her being translocated and this is where Chipangali came in, they held her in a holding pen on behalf of the National Parks. During her time in the holding pens it was noticed that she was pregnant and on the 14th February 2003 she gave birth to two cubs, a little boy and a little girl.
Sadly the little boy died a day later from an infection of the umbilical cord, so the thought of keeping the female with her mother in the confined area made us remove her & hand-rear her. She was then adopted by the Wilson family, fondly namely Raza and was to feed on cows milk and was never let out of site for the fear that she might have something wrong with her. It was later confirmed by the Nigerian authorities that they infact wanted a male leopard and not a female, so the female was radio-collared and released back into the Matopos where she was captured. She was named "Hove" simply because she was found & released at the banks of the Hove River.
.JPG/&w=195)
Raza's mother was caught by the National Parks in Matopos for translocation to Nigeria. It would take three months for all the legal documentation to be sorted out before her being translocated and this is where Chipangali came in, they held her in a holding pen on behalf of the National Parks. During her time in the holding pens it was noticed that she was pregnant and on the 14th February 2003 she gave birth to two cubs, a little boy and a little girl. 