A Black Friday for CCF

Quasar

We were abruptly awakened by a commotion at dawn on Friday morning involving three of our resident, non-releasable cheetahs.  Somehow the three cheetahs from the coalition we call “the Stars” managed to escape their enclosure. Quasar and his sister Soraya were nowhere to be found. Quasar’s brother Phoenix had found his way into the goat pen area.

Dr. Bruce Brewer, our General Manager, quickly brought Phoenix back to his camp, while staff, volunteers, students and interns went out to search for the two missing Stars.

It was not long before we found Quasar. He hadn’t gone far, but was badly injured. He had lost a great deal of blood. Quasar had serious injuries to his abdomen, which we later determined were most likely inflicted by a warthog tusk. He might have been trying to hunt the warthog, and the warthog defended itself from this inexperienced hunter. Quasar, orphaned since birth, never had the opportunity to learn survival skills from his mother. Knowing how to identify dangerous animals, maintaining a territory, finding water, knowing when to walk away from a kill, or what to hunt or how, are essential to a cheetah’s success in the wild.

Once Quasar was discovered, a flurry of activity began. Some of us kept looking for Soraya, others prepared to safely transport Quasar to the CCF Clinic, while yet others were phoning the vet in Otjiwarongo, Dr. Axel Hartman, and prepping the clinic for surgery.

Dr. Hartmann and CCF’s veterinarian, Dr. Amelia Zakiewicz, performed a two-hour surgery to clean and suture the damage caused by the warthog tusk. There was fear of peritonitis, but in the end the surgery went well and Quasar was put on close watch to make sure that he was recovering well after such a traumatic injury and significant procedure. Unfortunately, his heart stopped a few hours later, and despite all our efforts to resuscitate him, it did not resume beating. Our Star, Quasar, passed away at 2:40 that afternoon, and left a tremendous hole in all our lives – most especially his brother Phoenix’s.

Soraya

Soraya is still out there and we continue to look for her. CCF’s Senior Ecologist, Matti Nghikembua, who is an amazing tracker, has found what seem to be her tracks in the area, but female cheetahs are notoriously more difficult to find than males. We believe she’s doing well –in captivity, she has caught small animals, and might be doing the same in the wild. Perhaps she has chosen freedom. She was the most independent of the three siblings, and is very likely the most capable of surviving on her own. We hope to find her soon, but if we don’t, we wish her a life full of good kills and maybe even some litters.

CCF is located in wild lands – we are hours away from the nearest city, the land is drought-ridden and life here can be very hard. Last Friday points out this stark reality for all of us. It was one of our blackest days ever at CCF. All of us at CCF are shattered at the loss of Quasar, and worried for Soraya’s survival. At least we can be grateful that Phoenix is safe. Quasar will never be far from us who knew him, and like Chewbaaka, we will honour him through the ongoing work we do to save his species. Despite the high emotion and unexpected loss, our outstanding team of staff, interns and volunteers is carrying on. There are farmers to educate, Livestock Guarding Dogs to breed, a Model Farm to run, research to complete. Life at CCF has to go on; today we have eight newborn dairy goats that give us a reason to smile and to gather strength. More importantly, the race against extinction for the cheetah can’t stop, not if we want to win it. A tragedy like this, as difficult as it is, only makes us more determined.

Quasar

Josie & Merlot: An Introduction

by Ryan Marcel Sucaet

24 October 2012 was a remarkable moment in a long history of two neighboring cheetahs who were given a second chance at becoming a bonded pair.  Josie and Merlot, two resident males, arrived to CCF in August 2000 and 2001, respectively. Initially, Josie was housed with Gremlin, another male.  

In 2009 Gremlin had to be euthanized due to an injury, leaving Josie alone in his pen.  Next door (sharing a fence line), Merlot was originally housed with Klein. The two were extremely bonded to one another.   In mid-February 2012, Klein was euthanized following a 3-year fight against Herpes Viral Dermatitis, cancer, and renal failure. 

In 2009, an attempt at bonding Josie with Merlot and Klein, had resulted in failure. In October 2011, Josie was neutered and introduced to two females, Misty and Shadow (both 13 years old), but this attempt at housing Josie with other cheetahs also did not work out.

The 24^th of October was the first attempt at reuniting Josie and Merlot since 2009.  The Cheetah Husbandry team was prepared for the worst, but hoped for the best.  It was decided to introduce Merlot to Josie, inside Josie’s small feeding pen. 

I accompanied the two males for another 30 minutes by myself, to give them more privacy and to be a deterrent in case a severe fight broke out.  Fortunately, there was no fighting, no growling and no need to intervene.  After about 20 minutes of observations, I could hear them purring as they lay beside one another, back-side to back-side.  Considering their history, I found this unfathomably miraculous to witness.

Since the introduction, the boys have fought briefly, but this behavior is typical.  Josie and Merlot need to determine their hierarchy to maintain peace between them.  As long as they do not fight ruthlessly they will remain together.  Less than a week later, the two are still fine.  It has definitely been a great start to a (hopefully) long-lasting bond between two old males and two old neighbors.