Cheetah Conservation Fund

Category: Cheetahs | Date: Nov 20 2007 | By: admin

On Friday 16 November, one of CCF’s most important resident cheetahs, Chewbaaka, had a special house call by Otjiwarongo veterinarian for an infected eye. For the last couple of weeks, the famous ambassador cheetah was observed to have a sensitive and weepy eye. The eye became worse, showing signs of broken vessels in the retina and haziness. The local veterinarian, Dr. Axel Hartman, from the Otjiwarongo Veterinary Clinic was contacted and arrangements set to more closely observe the cause of the problem. Chewbaaka, CCF’s 12 year old ambassador cheetah, was orphaned when he was 3 weeks old and has been at CCF ever since. As the star of many TV documentaries, he was anesthetised and treated in the CCF clinic where samples were taken for further analysis.

6 responses so far

Category: Cheetah - General | Date: Nov 16 2007 | By: admin

The end of the year is always a very busy time for all of us at the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Dr. Laurie Marker, our Executive Director, just ended a two-month fundraising tour in the USA. In Namibia, we continue gathering data from the GSM collared cheetahs. Our teaching farm is very busy and the two litters of puppies are just about ready to be placed. I just finished sending out cheetah updates to everyone who has sponsored one of 45 non-releasable cheetahs under our care in Namibia, and am working on our next eLetter which should go out within the next few days. This will be also an appeal, as we are in urgent need of cheetah sponsors. With 45 mouths to feed, our costs are approximately US$5,000/year per cheetah, which provides food and veterinary care for all of them. If your holiday plans include giving a gift that lasts a whole year, sponsor one of our cheetahs! You can meet them at www.cheetah.org = Sponsor a Cheetah.

Worldwide, we are preparing to send out our year-end thanks to everyone who has supported us in 2007. Through all this flurry of activity, I couldn’t stop but thinking of all the great and supportive comments we have been receiving since we first started posting our blog at wildlifedirect.org just about two months ago, and today, much to our delight, we received news of our first donations through this great web site! On behalf of all of us at CCF, staff and cheetahs, I want to thank our new donors, our readers, and the entire wildlifedirect.org team, which has been truly fantastic. Every donation we receive reinforces our belief that saving the wild cheetah is worth every effort on our side. Thank you so much!

Patricia Tricorache - International Programmes

No responses yet

Category: Cheetah - Education | Date: Nov 05 2007 | By: admin

Approximately 95% of the cheetah population in Namibia resides on farmlands in the north-central region of the country, with only small populations of cheetah found in the southern part. This causes human wildlife conflict as farmers are worried about predators taking livestock. As part of our conservation and education programs we offer farmer training programs that focus on livestock and predator management. With the help of sponsors we are able to offer these courses which include training, food, and shelter to the farmers. Their only responsibility is transport to CCF. We have had a very positive response and continue to fill courses. Starting with two basic courses we have now added many based on the needs of farmers. Successful farms are important for the conservation of the cheetah and other predators. Some of the courses offered include Integrated Livestock and Predator Management, Practical Farming Course, Livestock Marketing and Management, Financial Farm Management, Sustainable Utilisation of Game on Commercial Farmland, Small Stock Management, and Introduction to Sustainable Livestock Farming for Learners Grade 9 - 12.

Last week we had 28 farm workers on site participating in the Practical Farming Course which is designed for the farm workers. This course focuses less on management and more on hands on day to day issues. The course starts with the farm ecosystem and how their actions affect the system as a whole. Next they are taught herd health including what to look for in terms of illness, what medications they should have on hand and how to properly dispense them, and problems and solutions that may arise during birthing. Proper nutrition is also taught such as what times of the year different supplements may be needed. The participants also learn more about the use and training of livestock guarding dogs as they are the ones interacting with these dogs on a daily basis. To teach them more about the different predators on the farms we set up kill id sites which include a carcass, tracks and other signs that will help them determine which predator is causing the problem. Through this hand on exercise they learn ways to deal with their individual problems and often uncover misconceptions about the different predators.

We look forward to the next year of courses and are always grateful for the help from our sponsors. Keeping the cost off the farmers is very important for the success of the courses.

4 responses so far