The Plight of the Cheetah: Infographic

We're always looking for new ways to educate people about the plight of the cheetah in the wild.  We've added a new way to reach out -- here's our first infographic, with the assistance of the team at Viget Labs in Virginia (thanks!). We're also posting it to our Facebook page -- share liberally!

Gobabis to Otjiwarongo: The Translocation of Four Females

On 7 November 2012, Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) staff was called to pick up five cheetahs that were caught inside traps set out by a farmer in the Gobabis region of Namibia (~ 6 hour drive from CCF headquarters).    Before the CCF team arrived, they were informed that one of the cheetahs, a young female, died under unknown circumstances.   The farmer led the team through a maze of gravel and dirt roads, and finally arrived to the site of the captured cheetahs.  A chicken coop, a water trough, a metal trap-cage and a group of four highly stressed female cheetahs were what we found.  After assessing the situation, we decided to capture the cheetahs into wooden boxes in order to transport them back to CCF.

Considering the heat of the day and the stress level of the cheetahs, the team worked as quickly as possible, eventually moving all 4 cats, one at a time, into the trap cage and then to the the transfer crate.  The long journey home was not the end of the day.  Around 21:00, CCF staff were still working up two of the females.  One was an older female (3-5 years old)  and the other was an older cub (~18 months).  The two cats appeared to be in decent health.  The following day, the other two females were worked up.  One was a cub, which was in good health, the other was an adult female, whose condition was not as fortunate.  This female had old injuries on and in between her paws and pads.  Due to the degenerative state of her paws, Otjiwarongo veterinarian, Axel, assisted in the amputation of one of her toes, which had been severely broken.  After the procedure, the cheetah recovered normally in a safe, cemented quarantine pen, to prevent her from moving too much and possibly worsening the wounds on her feet.

The amputee female, who was given the name “Toeless,” was scheduled on 15 November to go to the dentist to have two root canals performed on her canines as well as an incisor removal  She was taken to Otjiwarongo, and the procedures were carried out by human dentist and loyal friend, Dr. Profitt.  Under anaesthetic  the condition of her paws was assessed, and although they were getting much better, she still needed more time to heal.

Three weeks later, “Toeless” was anaesthetised gain, but this time Dr. Profitt came to CCF to perform another root canal.  Also during this time her pads were checked again and they were looking much better!  She was fitted with a satellite collar and the bonding process between her and her previous chicken coop mates began.  The four females were all in one pen the following day, and all went well.  “Toeless” seemed anxious to have a large pen that she could move around in, so she ran up and down the fence line, while the “Mom” and two cubs hid in the grasses and watched.  There was very little interaction between the females as a whole.

The next day, on 8 December 2012, CCF staff captured “Mom,” the other adult female, who may or may not be the mother of the two older, near independent cubs.  She was anesthetised and also placed with a GPS/VHF combination collar.  After a speedy recovery all four females were once again reunited.  We kept the foursome together for another week and tried to bond them by having them share several warthog carcasses.  The two adult females showed promising wild behaviours as they quickly opened up the carcass, which can be a very difficult feat for the inexperienced.  The two cubs were more hesitant and usually waited to feed after the carcass was already opened.

Finally, on 15 December, the four females were once again captured in transport crates and taken on a 45 minute drive to CCF’s soft-release camp, Bellebenno.  This 4,000ha (nearly 10,000 acre) game camp is filled with premium game for these cats to feed on.  Oryx, eland, kudu, red hartebeest, steenbok, duiker and warthog are all on the menu, and this time of the year is calving season.  We decided on this location as it would give the females the best chance at survival, especially if they all split up.

A warthog carcass was placed in the centre of the four crates that temporarily held the cheetahs.  The release was in place.  The crate doors were lifted and out ran the four females, in four separate directions, without even a glance at the free warthog.  The CCF team quickly departed as to not interfere anymore with their behaviour.

In the following days, the two adult females’ satellite collars fed CCF staff information on their whereabouts.  They remained separate from one another and “Mom” went onto our neighbours property after the first day of release.  The second day, “Toeless” also left Bellebenno, but returned on day threee.  The two cubs' locations are unknown as they were not fitted with satellite collars.  Hopefully, several of CCF’s camera traps and ground tracking team will be able to observe the cats in the future, to assess their condition.

All releases are complicated and must be carefully thought out, since each cheetah is different. As these four females were all wild prior to being captured, and are deemed to be healthy, our expectations on their ability to survive are high. With this, we are happy to know that four more cheetahs are back where they belong –in the wild.   The survival of the species depends on it.  

Ryan Marcel Sucaet
Assistant Cheetah Keeper & Research Assistant
sucaetry@gmail.com

Xena and Luna: Week 2

30 January 2012 - Day 9

Warthogs (archive photo) - (c) CCF

After finding Xena in the morning, we observed as she walked past a warthog den. Suddenly three sub-adult warthogs exploded out of their den, scaring Xena in the process. She jolted backwards and then ran away from the pigs. She began walking away and another warthog unexpectedly ran past her. She slapped at the ground and hissed in her nervous yet defensive state. Luna slept the majority of the day. In the evening we searched for the girls for an hour with no signal on our receiver. Then I nearly got stuck in the road (due to the mud) followed by an extremely flat tire, and finally the storm. The girls were unfortunately not found.

31 January 2012 - Day 10

It was a long morning of searching for the girls. When we found Xena she was nearly 4km from where we last saw her yesterday morning and Luna was also in a new, very dense bushed, area. In the evening we found Xena’s spoor on the road. From looking at her tracks, which were deep in the sand and nearly a meter apart with the claw marks were heavily visible, we determined that she was sprinting. There were warthog piglet tracks everywhere as well. When we found her, she was nearly sleeping under a bush, without a kill. Afterwards we found Luna and next to her WAS a kill! Kill #3 (observed): an adult female duiker (small antelope). On our arrival, the duiker was still untouched. After five minutes of observation, Luna began licking the hair on the duiker intensely. She then opened the carcass and began to feed. It was amazing that she even allowed Rachel and me to watch! Throughout the feeding, she was extremely vigilant, looking around and picking her head up at any conspicuous sound. This is great behaviour to see from a solitary female, which has to be vigilant in order to guard her kill or flee due to other larger predators.

Duikers (archive photo) - (c) CCF

1 February 2012 - Day 11

We found Luna still at her carcass this morning. She looked miserably wet as it rained most of the morning. The duiker’s entire hindquarters were eaten and Luna had a massive belly. We later found Xena (after another storm) and she had moved 2km from yesterday. It appears she is following the perimeter of Bellebenno. If she continues this route she could possibly cross paths with Luna again. The rest of the day and evening was rainy and prevented Rachel and I from tracking the girls. Our campsite had nearly 55mL of rain in one day! Bellebenno is flooded.

2 February 2012 - Day 12

After helping Rachel up from her colossal plunge into a stagnant puddle, we found Luna still at her kill. She dragged the duiker carcass about 25m and all that remained were the head, skin and bones. In the afternoon/evening, Jimmy (CCF volunteer from Denmark) and I found Xena in the same general area as yesterday. I decided it was time to supplement feed her, as we had not seen her with a kill or engorged belly in several days. She took her 1kg of donkey meat (on a bone) and ran away from us. Luna was later found about 400m from her kill site and she was still resting and digesting her three-day meal. Tomorrow I predict both females will be on the move again, investigating new areas of Bellebenno.

Later Jimmy and I had the privilege of spotting an African Wild Cat as well as a Hammerkop bird in a puddle! We also saw spoor of a wild male cheetah near our captive females’ camp.

African Wild Cat - www.namibian.org

3 February 2012 - Day 13

In the evening Jimmy and I discovered Luna’s spoor all along Bellebenno’s eastern corner, along the fence line, approaching swing gates and even running. Around her tracks were those of oryx, warthog, jackal and even aardvark. When we found Luna she was laying beside her fourth kill, another warthog piglet. It was unopened so we left to find Xena. Five kilometres away we located her and she instantly charged us. I noticed some dry blood on her face as she approached. As we backed off, we stumbled upon a severely injured warthog piglet. It must have escaped from Xena and hid before Jimmy and I scared it. Xena was caught in a moment of choice between hunting down the escaping/hobbling piglet and keeping us away: she chose to hunt. She killed the piglet by severing its spinal column, biting the back of the piglet’s neck (usually the jaw of a cheetah is too weak to do this, but not in the case of piglets). She finished eating in nearly 42 minutes and then rested. At the end of the night we returned to Luna who was already walking down the road. She abandoned her carcass after eating only the shoulder, back and neck; the rest was left for the flies and scavengers. She then continued to a puddle where she drank on and off (extremely vigilantly) for nearly nine minutes before vanishing into the bush. Within two weeks, both cheetahs are already proving themselves quite capable of handling the wild.

4 February 2012 - Day 14

Today was the laziest day of observing cheetahs throughout the entirety of the three releases I have done. Every time we checked on them, they were sleeping. From 06:30-19:50 they remained in their same general areas (venturing no further than 30m), in the shade, and seemingly without concerns. They were about 6km apart each digesting their warthog kills.

5 February 2012 - Day 15

Erlend (CCF volunteer from Norway) and I found Xena and Luna early this morning in the same areas we left them last night. Luna remains in the eastern-most corner of Bellebenno, while Xena utilizes the southern-most. It may be safe to assume that both of them have found their preferred area of the 4,000-ha game camp. Xena has stopped following the perimeter and has been found near the entrance of the game camp. Luna, on the other hand, is closer to where all of the game animals (zebra, oryx and recently eland) gather to feed. These grazers have come to a previously burnt area of land, where fresh green pioneer grasses are located. Although both females have showed a very promising set of behavioural adaptations since their release, it will be interesting to see what other prey they can hunt. Warthog piglets will not be around forever and they will have to learn to hunt other species.

6 February 2012 - Day 16

In the afternoon Erlend and I were struck by a massive lightning storm as we were tracking Xena. Considering it is unsafe to track with a metal antenna in an open bushveld, we ran to the car and waited for the storm to pass. Afterwards we found Xena and she was guarding a kill! This marks her fourth kill and it was a juvenile duiker! The area where the kill was made seemed unpractical for a cheetah to hunt. The area was generally open, but the invasive yellow flowers were nearly 1.5m tall and very difficult to walk through. The kill must have been by ambush due to low visibility. Xena is headed more northeast away from the black entrance gates closer to Luna, who walked up and down the road several times today, but generally stayed in the same area sleeping throughout the day.

Cheers from the bush,

Ryan Marcel Sucaet
Head of Cheetah Reintroductions

Cheetah Update from Laurie

Hi! It's been so busy. Sorry we have been out of touch! Just this week...

One of our Kangal dogs (Firat) was gored by a warthog and had emergency surgery on Monday. We neutered all our puppies on Monday and Tuesday so they will be ready for placement with farmers this Saturday, when they participate in a Farmer’s Day and then take their puppies. We had a film crew here on Tuesday filming for Hostel Life. They managed to film everything in one day!

Firat's surgery.

Today we took Klein to the dentist, and have been taking care of three new sheep born in the last three days. And last night we ran the four OK cubs out in the field, at the corner area where we ran Chewbaaka for 14 years...it was exciting to see them all running together with the Waterberg Plateau in the background. Our big team of interns and volunteers (and our small staff) enjoyed watching.

CCF's interns, volunteers and staff at the Big Field with the OK cubs.

Never a dull moment.

For those who haven't heard yet, we made our 2011 year-end match! We could not have done it without the incredible support and commitment from many of you to save the wild cheetah from extinction.

Thanks,

Laurie