From one of our volunteers

Many people ask us what it is like to volunteer at CCF. We are fortunate to have volunteers all year round, coming from all walks of life, lending their skills and passion to help us carry out our work, either in Namibia or Kenya. Here is a short essay written by Liz Karch, one of those incredible people that keep us going. For information about volunteering, please visit our web page, http://www.cheetah.org/ and click on Volunteer.

Come, Come, Come!

Back in the late 70s, I remember watching the show "Fantasy Island" where people lived out their fantasy for a week. I used to wonder what my fantasy was, but don't think I really came up with one. That was then, this is now.

In October 2007, thirty years later, I traveled to the Cheetah Conservation Fund and lived out my fantasy. For two weeks I worked along side a team of dedicated, cheerful and talented people. Our little group pulled into CCF on a rainy late afternoon - the first of the "little rains" had arrived. And so had we. The very next morning, we filed into the Hogwarts yard with a group of farmers and walked to the end corner. We were told the rules for the cheetah run: Stay together … Don't bend down. The three cats stood at attention, the lure started to move and they were off! Everyone watched them intently; they completely ignored us.

But not all of the 46 resident cheetahs felt that way about us. When we appeared at Bellebeno, a 158-acre enclosed area for some female cheetahs, the cats would hear our trucks and meet us at the entrance. They knew we had food and were anxious for us to drive down the dirt road yelling "Come, come, come! Come, come, come!" We would stop the truck and then throw each a chunk of meat.

After feeding the Bellebeno girls, our group had the privilege of bone clean-up. A couple weeks before the little rains came, the cats were temporarily relocated and the staff carried out a controlled burn. Due to the high probability of a lightening strike starting a wildfire, the area had been set on fire. Everything was scorched and black. This helped us find the bones left over from weeks of daily feedings. We would return looking like we had foraged through a charcoal jungle. At night while washing my hair, I would smell like Burnt Bellebeno. How I wish I could smell that now.

Center Feeding was a bit cleaner. Here the cats are kept in smaller, fenced-in enclosures with a separate feeding pen. First we would go in with scoopers and buckets to pick up bones and any waste while the cheetahs hissed and growled and spat from the other side of the fence. Next we'd bring in and line up the bowls of meat. Then we would leave through the gate and open the guillotine. The hungry cats would race in, scoop up their chunk of meat and take off. Some of them, though, would politely eat from the bowl. Those were great photo op moments.

I brought along my new digital camera (about the size of a deck of cards) and kept it in my pocket at all times. You'd never know when that three thousand dollar picture (as one staffer called it) would appear. In my case, I was standing outside the pen area as the other volunteers went in to clean. Four male cheetahs were stalking up to the fence toward me - hissing and growling and spitting and stomping. As if on cue, they lined up perfectly with their hackles up. Click! It nearly drove me wild.

Driving is a way of life at CCF: trekking out to Bellebeno, checking cheetah traps and camera traps and rain gauges, conducting game counts and looking for spoor tracks. Riding down a dirt road - and they're ALL dirt roads! - on the back of a truck, with a 360 degree view of the Namibian landscape, is exhilarating. But the jewel of it all is the Big Field, also known as "Little Serengeti." It was mostly here that we saw an abundance of wildlife: red hartebeests, kori bustards, warthogs, black-backed jackals, and a variety of antelopes. The Bellebeno farm is also home to giraffes and zebras. And everywhere there are birds, chipmunks, rabbits, snakes, and other small creatures like lizards and spiders.

Yet the cutest little animals by far are found right at CCF. We were lucky enough to have arrived weeks after Tylee and Ushi - two Kangal Anatolian Shepherds - had their litters of puppies. Those energetic and adorable puppies would run up to you, pull at your shoestrings and nip at your ankles. It wasn't hard for these future livestock guarding dogs to steal my heart.
My emotions ran the gamut. I got teary-eyed while walking into a cheetah necropsy in progress, and eventually leaving as the sight of an adolescent cheetah was too much for me. Some nights while looking up at a clear and starry sky, tears of pure joy rolled down my cheeks. I experienced tremendous sadness seeing a very old livestock guarding dog, in really bad shape, that had been returned to CCF. Petting Chewbaaka, Kanini and littleC - and listening to Kanini's thunderous purr - was amazing. Sheer exhaustion felt so pleasurable after a hard day's work. Never in my life have I worked so hard and enjoyed it so much.

There was, of course, administrative work to be done. My official assignment was to enter the feeding logs into an Excel spreadsheet. I also worked in the Clinic doing filing, and spent a couple hours in the Center's gift shop straightening up and restocking the shelves. Each and every task, no matter how small or how challenging, was cherished.

Volunteering at CCF was one of the greatest experiences of my life. When I think back (and I often do!) I am so thankful to have been there. Was it a Fantasy Island? In some ways it was. But more than that, it was an amazing opportunity to help save the wild cheetah just by being there. And I can't wait to do it all over again.

Our latest Notes from the Field available online!

It has been a long time since our last blog. We have been so busy! But finally, Dr. Laurie Marker’s most recent Field Notes are now available online by clicking here!

Learn about our latest batch of eight puppies donated to farmers, or the new puppy just arrived from Holland — Annual physicals were conducted in record time on all of CCF’s 47 non-releasable cheetahs while training two vets from the Kenya Wildlife Service — Two male cheetahs captured nearby contributed to the Cheetah Genome Bank — Farmers, schools, volunteers and visitors have kept us busy as we continue to teach them about cheetah conservation — and the capture of another cheetah and her cub gave us an opportunity to teach a Polytechnic group of agriculture students how one farmer’s failed predator control caused another livestock loss. So much has been going on!!!

Find out where Dr. Laurie Marker will be during her May trip to Europe and the US –where she will receive two prestigious awards, and read about her February travels in Cameroon and the U.S. Learn about our latest Run for the Cheetah success in Chicago with 700 runners, including CCF Namibia’s Senior Research Assistant Matti Nghikembua.

So much is happening at CCF. We hope you enjoy the reading.

Patricia

Finally back home!

Hi!I just want to thank you all! I finally made it back home a week ago. What a journey. But, one day after getting home was more than a full week's worth already.

Got back on Sunday night and as night was turning dark we were all in cheetah pens trying to move cheetahs that were not supposed to be together.

Saw littleC this morning and he has grown by a 1/3rd bigger. Chewbaaka has a sore foot - so he sat at the door this morning crying with his paw held up - a cut on his toe.

Worked with our Vet team on 2 of the 5 cheetah workups - vet team working like a well-oiled group - 2 vets- 2 retired nurses (volunteers), University of Florida students, 2 vet techs, 2 reproductive physiologists - the rest of our CCF team and students
Had spitting cobra next to bedroom window in mid-morning - Bruce caught it - got spit at in eye - (he's OK thankfully) - snake has been released - far from house.

Pouring down rain - roads over-flowing in Otjiwarongo.
Met all our new puppies - many left for new homes on Saturday - more going in the next days - still a full litter with mom - so cute!
Met Spots, our new livestock guarding puppy from Holland - cute - big! (picture right).
And got filled in on all happening here -
New tee-shirts in gift shop!
New camera traps out in new farm area.
2 wild cheetahs hanging around the Centre, dorms and our house.
Grass taller than my knees!
Lots of new goat kids and sheep lambs.

OK - its green here - and we have cheetahs coming out of our ears!

Thanks for all your help and appreciate all your help in our collective efforts to SAVE the CHEETAH.

Laurie Marker

New Kangal Puppy Arrives from Holland!

Last week Simone and Michael from Spots Holland delivered an exciting new gift to CCF. Spots, a Kangal Shepherd dog, was given to CCF by generous supporters, Abdullah and Mustafa, who take great pride in their dogs and in helping the cheetah. At nine weeks old, Spots is being raised as CCF's new breeding male. He will bring new genes to our Livestock Guarding Dog breeding program. While our current breeding male Amos is doing a great job, we look forward to this new addition. As you've read, late last year Amos produced two litters and early this year two more. Our staff is currently on the road busily checking up on the puppies from the first two. We are proud to have placed 4 litters this year with eager farmers, yet we still have many more on the waiting list. We appreciate your continued support in our conservation programs and helping us to raise these guarding dogs. Through this program we are showing that cheetahs and humans can live together!

Since 1994, CCF has placed more than 275 dogs as livestock guardians. These dogs provide a method of non-lethal predator control that protects the farmer's livelihood while conserving predator species.

Cheetah Surgery

Yesterday was a long day for one young cheetah here at CCF. Through a series of events, he arrived a month ago underweight, in ill health, and with a bad fracture of the distal femur, just above the knee. Since he was about15 months old, this meant his growth plate was primarily affected, but happily the stifle (knee) joint itself was unaffected. Mother nature, being the ultimate healer, formed a lot of scar tissue and bone callous around the fracture in an attempt to stabilize it even though it was not in the correct anatomic alignment, while staff at CCF worked to get the cheetah strong enough health wise to withstand a surgery to repair the leg.

The day finally arrived when the cheetah was declared fit for surgery, and the local veterinarian was ready after ordering special plates and instruments to repair it. Everything went like clockwork from getting the cheetah "Axel" into his transport cage to anesthetizing him at the vet. All the vital statistics were very stabile during the 6 hour long procedure, and he had IV fluids and medications for infection and pain/inflammation control post-op.

The surgery itself was difficult due to the amount of scar tissue and bone callous formation around the old fracture, Mother Nature had worked overtime! Muscles had contracted to counteract for the change in bone positioning after the initial injury, and all required gentle retraction and stretching in order to replace the femur into a proper anatomic alignment. After several hours this goal occurred with a resounding "sthwopp" sound. After that, life was relatively easy aligning the plate on the lateral side of the fracture, placing the screws and then after flushing the area with sterile saline closing the muscle and other tissues in such a way as to support the joint and prevent the incision from opening. Since a cheetah is unlikely to stand quietly and allow suture removal without anaesthesia, sutures need to be placed under the skin and the top covered with insect preventative. Radiographs showed a superb alignment of the fracture and his recovery went very smoothly. After returning to CCF, he stayed in a quiet capture crate overnight at our clinic here.

Great cheers were had all 'round when he took and ate a small meat chunk with his medication the next day, and then upon release to a small enclosure where he will continue to recover with medication for the next 10 days. Further updates will occur as he continues to recover over time. As to his long term outlook he will become one of the permanent residents since he cannot return to the wild with this injury. However, he should have good life quality in running about here and playing with his sister.

Written by our visiting vet Kris Kingery.

First "Future Farmers of Africa" course presented by CCF.

Cheetah Conservation Fund's Programme 'Future Farmers of Africa' presented its first Livestock Marketing Course from the 3^rd to 7^th of December. It focused on the ideal product, the economic viability of production and on environmentally sound and cheetah friendly production practices. 25 farmers learned to determine weight by girth measurement, which is required to calculate market related prices, to monitor weight gain and to evaluate performance. This is important to farmers without scales on their farms as many may not be able to afford them. Techniques learned in this course will help them get the most out of their livestock. While some predator losses are inevitable these courses help farmers minimize losses while maximizing returns. Stakeholders of Namibia's meat industry, namely the Meat Board of Namibia and the Meat Corporation of Namibia partnered up with CCF to make this event possible. The number of courses we can offer in a year is often limited by funding. We appreciate your help with this. (Photo: Farmers measure the weight of a slaughtered ox.)

From Günther Roeber - Course Coordinator

17 Livestock Guarding Dogs adopted out

Over the past few weeks, seventeen Anatolian shepherd puppies were adopted out to farmers throughout Namibia. The pups were born in September, and monitored every day by staff and volunteers. Leading the puppy care was Canadian student, Krisztina Mosdossy. These wonderful Anatolians are bred here at CCF and raised with our goatherd. At eight weeks old they are adopted to qualified farmers to protect their goats and sheep against predators. The dogs bonding period ends around 16 weeks so it is important to place them with the herd they will be guarding at this age. This year, as a way to insure that the dogs get the best care possible, the farmers were required to attend an all day workshop held at CCF. The workshop included discussions on nutrition, preventative health, behaviour, and training. Farmers were given a starter bag of puppy food and encouraged to call us if they have questions. In early January 2008 staff will be visiting the various farms to see how the pups are acclimating to their new environments. Donations made through this site will help us to cover food, veterinary care, and training of farmers. As always keeping costs down for farmers keeps this program running successfully.

Introducing littleC!

In August, an orphan of two months was rescued by a farm worker after his dog treed him. littleC, now walking in Chewbaaka's paw prints, is becoming an amazing ambassador. He has grown considerably and is now living with two-year-old orphan, Kanini. He has been meeting school groups, farmers and visitors regularly and has the crowd listening to our message for the survival of his kind. littleC will soon be needing a sponsor, just like the other 40+ cheetahs residing at CCF. To sponsor a cheetah, visit our web site www.cheetah.org and click on Sponsor a Cheetah.

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Collared Cheetah Update

Unfortunately we have experienced a setback that shows the realties we are dealing with. Two of our collared cats have died. The first was shot by a farmer who didn't know whether it was a cheetah or leopard. This is the lack of knowledge that our education programs are meant to combat. On the positive side, upon visiting his farm to retrieve the collar we learned that he didn't know much about the cats and is interested in attending our farmer training courses. It is great to meet receptive farmers and to know some good will come out of it.

Sadly the second cat to die was Bob, a tailless male that we had seen in our camera surveys for the past few years. This year was the first to see him without his brother. While we do not know the fate of his brother we do know that Bob died of natural causes. He was found at a waterhole next to a warthog carcass. It appeared that the warthog injured him during the hunt.

Since then we have collared and released another male and await the fourth again. This magnificent dominant male weighing 54kgs received a complete medical workup that showed him to be healthy. We collected many samples and froze his sperm in our GRB. His release was a beautiful expression of the freedom and power of this most amazing champion of speed.

We continue to check the traps twice a day with the help of our Earthwatch volunteers.

Captive Cheetah Update

Leia, one of our non-releasable cheetahs, had a problem with her salivary gland recently. This is something that has occured at least twice before since I've been here (2 and a half years), and this time I think it's resolved for good. I noticed that when she hissed, the left side of her tongue looked bubbly; that was the same as before. we had a vet come out and anesthesize her. It turns out there was a miniscule hole in the gland and a piece of foreign debris got in and infected it. Our vet, Dr. Axel Hartmann from Otjiwarongo, took the infected gland out so that she won't be having anymore problems. She was on antibiotics for a few days and then returned back to her big pen. She's doing fine. Actually, we introduced another cat into that area, Shadow. Shadow is 9 years old and was at Bellebeno --CCF's 64-ha pen, but she was getting beat up too often so we decided to move her closer. That was actually the same reason why Leia is also in this pen with Blondi, Sandi, and Dusty. So Leia and Shadow are in the big pen now, and they seem to be ignoring each other for the most part.

We are currently caring for 45 cheetahs that cannot be released back into the wild. CCF cares for these orphaned, old or injured cheetahs that cannot be released back into the wild as they do not have the skills or physical capability to survive. Although CCF is not a welfare centre, it does accommodate these non-releasable cheetahs. If another approved home becomes available, CCF relocates these cheetahs to an alternate captive facility. However, many of these cheetahs are permanent residents of CCF, and fortunately we have many donors who help us fund their food and veterinary care through our Cheetah Sponsorship program. We can’t thank them enough for their help!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Phil - Research Assistant and Cheetah Keeper