Cheetah Conservation Fund

Category: Cheetah - Conservation Programmes, Cheetah - Education, Cheetah - General, Livestock Guarding Dogs | Date: Feb 11 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The last couple of weeks have seen the arrival of many new faces at CCF including 10 American students and three of their teachers from the University of Florida who will be with us for 2 months. The trip has been organized by Aletris Neils of the University of Arizona (a former student intern at CCF in a similar program in 2002), and is the second of its kind after last year’s was deemed a huge success. During their time here, the students will be conducting their own studies which include radio-collaring dormice, an investigation into bird calls, bat identification and small mammal trapping to see if roads act as barriers. They will also do a 24 hour waterhole count, visit

Etosha National Park and give presentations to CCF staff on Namibian culture and human and wildlife conflict. The students have already fitted in nicely and have mucked in with pen cleaning, taken part in puppy aptitude tests and braved standing in the back of the feeding car even though it meant getting a soaking from the rain and puddles! So they appear to be made of the right stuff and we look forward to spending more time with them over the next few weeks and finding out the results of their studies.

I hear some of you asking what exactly I mean by a ‘puppy aptitude test’?! Well, when our livestock guarding dog puppies are around 7 weeks old, we carry out a number of tests on them which aim to tell us how good a guarding dog they will be. There are 11 tests which include seeing how well they respond to being called, tossing a ball and seeing if they fetch it, making a loud noise and seeing how they respond, and pinning them down on their back and seeing how they react. Each puppy gets a score for each test and the results are then analysed. Unfortunately rain prevented us from testing all the pups so you will have to wait for the next blog to find out their verdicts!

This week also saw the arrival of lots of kids and lambs which has meant lots of work for Gunther and his helpers Lazarus, Joe and our herder Aramas, especially as the aforementioned rain has made for less than ideal conditions. An important task they have had to carry out is making sure each birthing pen has an ‘island’ so that the little kids can sit on top of it and stay dry during the rain. We have so many newborns that we have had to move some of them into a couple of our empty cheetah pens! So far we have had 62 kids and 14 lambs and more should have arrived by the time you read this.

Finally, CCF has two new staff members, Anza Jansen Van Vuuren and Morne Du voit. Morne will have his hands full on the maintenance side of things, especially with our vehicles as there always seems to be something wrong with them due to harsh conditions they are subjected to! Anza will take on some of the duties that Laura Linn used to do; sadly, Laura said goodbye to CCF this week after being here for just over two years. For that period Laura has been the glue that has kept everything at CCF together! She was responsible for many of the things essential for the day-to-day running of CCF including scheduling the daily activities, running the gift shop, making sure our daily visitors were happy and looking after student groups and important guests. You will also see her name attached to the 2006 and 2007 International Cheetah Studbook. Last, but certainly not least, Laura was key in raising our ambassador cheetah littleC, who turned out to be a handsome (although Laura would probably want me to say VERY handsome) cheetah with a very friendly nature. He will make a great ambassador as he follows Chewbaaka’s steps.

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Category: Cheetahs, Livestock Guarding Dogs | Date: Jan 21 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

Our two young brothers Ngungu and Shunga are continuing to eat in front of visitors and are growing up to be very good CCF ambassadors. They have even started to copy their older pen mate littleC by climbing up the tree inside their enclosure and posing proudly for photos. littleC has also had to contend with increased cheeky behaviour from the two mischievous cheetahs who often try and gang up on their adopted older brother and try and steal his food! At the moment littleC is still too big and swiftly swipes the bothersome twosome away, although for how much longer littleC can maintain his dominance over the fast growing youngsters, only time will tell!

It has been an important week for three of our other adolescent cheetahs which saw the sad but necessary separation of brother and sister. Siblings Obe-Wan and Padme came to CCF in September 2008, they had been trapped by a farmer who kept them for two months with the aim of capturing the mother. However, the mother never showed and CCF were called to collect them. Upon arrival at CCF Obe-Wan and Padme were placed in an enclosure with Anakin, another of our orphaned cubs and they got on extremely well. Anakin was named after the character from the Star Wars movies and provided the inspiration for naming Obe-Wan and Padme. All three are very feisty characters and have formed quite a bond over the last few months, however they are all around a year of age and the two boys will soon start looking at Padme in a very different light and with it being illegal to breed cheetahs in Namibia it is time to separate them. Therefore Anakin and Obe-Wan have been moved into an enclosure next to two of our young males Chester and Omdillo. They will be able to see and meet each other through the fence and it is hoped that all four will soon become good friends and form a formidable coalition. Padme’s future is not yet determined; our original plan was to put her in our enclosure housing six other females, however, we picked up a new arrival this week that may provide us with another option. My colleague Chris Gordon and I traveled to a farm just past Okahandja and collected a beautiful 4-5 month old female. The owner of a farm rescued the small cub, whom we have named ‘Bella,’ from a neighboring farm where she was being held in a small chicken coup. The caring farmer had taken Bella to the vet for initial vaccinations. We found Bella in excellent condition inside a well kept dog pen but persuading her to enter our cheetah box proved quite tricky and Chris eventually had to man up and enter the pen armed with a towel which he was able to place over Bella and grab her by the scruff of the neck. The fate of Bella’s mother is unknown, but being separated from her at such a young age means that Bella will not be able to be released back into the wild as she has been denied the essential life skills that her mother would have taught her. I will of course keep you informed on Bella’s progress and whether or not she becomes a new pen mate for Padme.

Our 17 livestock guarding dog puppies are also growing up fast and preparations are underway for puppy day on the 14^th of February when their new owners will come to CFF to collect them. On that day the farmers will be shown around CCF’s Model Farm and attend several information sessions where they will learn how to look after and train their puppy correctly, as well as get the chance to ask CCF staff any questions they may have.

Well, that’s all for now, see you next time!

Matt

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetahs, Livestock Guarding Dogs | Date: Jan 05 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

Happy New Year! I hope you all have had a great Christmas and enjoyed your New Year celebrations. For me it has been my first Christmas away from home and it couldn’t have been more different to what I’m used to! On Christmas morning instead of enthusiastically opening presents with my sister under the Christmas tree and tucking into my mum’s delicious Christmas dinner I found myself weighing puppies and driving around Africa checking cheetah enclosure fences. Being English, experiencing Christmas with the hot weather we are currently having also took a bit of getting used to!

Those of us still here at CCF enjoyed a rather different Christmas dinner round our Director’s house and instead of turkey enjoyed home made cheese burgers expertly made for us by Bruce, our general manager. The highlight of an enjoyable evening came when CCF’s newest residents Phoenix, Quasar and Soraya were allowed to join in the celebrations. The three young but rapidly growing cheetahs had a great time running around saying hello to all the new faces around them.

I celebrated the new year in the nearby town of Otjiwarongo with my fellow keeper Kate, dog man John and party animal groovy Gunther! Gunther is our agricultural and training course manager and a local Namibian who was very keen to see in 2009 with a drink in hand and plenty of cheesy Afrikaans party songs! We ended up at a pop concert where to my delight Onyoka, my favourite Namibian band, were playing. We had a great time but alas we couldn’t stay out all night as we all had early starts and lots to do the following day.

The Christmas period saw an increase in the sightings of the two wild males that like to hang around the CCF centre, one of which has a CCF radio collar fitted. They were seen almost every night patrolling up and down the fence line of the enclosures housing some of our very beautiful female cheetahs! They succeeded in scaring me good and proper one night whilst I was walking along one of the fore mentioned enclosures towards our office when they jumped out of no where only 10 feet in front of me! Rather than seeing this attention as a nuisance the females actually seem to enjoy it and often engage in a spot of flirting.

I am pleased to say that all 17 puppies are still doing really well and have reached the stage when they can start to eat normal food, which I’m sure will be a big relief to their exhausted mothers Tylee and Uschi. After all, having 9 hungry mouths competing for your attention 24/7 can’t be much fun!

The four wild cats I mentioned in my previous blog are on their way to the Namibrand Nature Reserve as I speak. The 9 hour drive will mark the end of what must have been a very traumatic time for the mother and her 3 cubs but happily they will soon be back in the wild where they belong and with Namibrand they have the advantage of living in a protected area. The cubs (2 males and one female) are at an age when they will soon leave their mother. The mother will be fitted with a radio collar and her progress monitored. I am sure she will do well especially as she has raised 3 cubs to independent age which shows she is made of the right stuff.

So 2008 ended on a happy note, lets hope it continues throughout 2009! Matt

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetahs, Livestock Guarding Dogs | Date: Dec 30 2008 | By: cheetahconservation

We are in the middle of Namibia ’s rainy season and the recent rains have caused many changes. The most obvious change is that the trees have re-grown their leaves and the dull, dry grass has turned a beautiful green, totally transforming the landscape. The rains have also resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of creepy crawlies flying about! A single light left on in the evening will soon attract hundreds of lil critters including flying termites, moths, preying mantis’ and flies. This has been good news for our resident geckos and bats who enjoy an insectivorous feast every night. This bug explosion may be annoying (especially when you are trying to make a cup of tea) but at least they are not life threatening, unfortunately the same can not be said of another type of animal that has become more prominent since the rains…snakes! In the space of a week 2 spitting cobras and 2 black mambas have been spotted on CCF property. I myself was witness to one of the black mambas, which I saw slithering across the road inside one of our cheetah pens. Fortunately I was inside a car at the time but coming face to face with one of the most dangerous snakes in the world still made my heart rate increase quite a bit! I watched the mamba slowly slither outside the enclosure and was very glad to see all of the 6 cats present at feeding time!

It has been an eventful week for our livestock guarding dog programme as two of our breeding Anatolians gave birth. Uschi gave birth on the 17^th and her mother Tylee, just two days later on the 19^th. Myself and our newest member of staff John Hurter were there for both deliveries. John has come to CCF with many years of dog training experience and is proving to be a great asset for the dog programme. On the day of his interview he brought one of our retired breeding dogs, Shades, back from the dead after he had a bad reaction to an anaesthetic procedure. Shades stopped breathing and his heart had stopped, but John new what to do and with the help of Lizzie successfully gave Shades CPR. Needless to say that didn’t harm his chances of getting the job! Uschi’s labour went well and all 9 of her puppies arrived into the world without any problems. However the same can not be said for Tylee who had a difficult time and needed help from myself and John delivering some of the pups and getting them to take that important first breath. She delivered 11 puppies but sadly three of those were still born. So we now have 17 puppies to take care of and I’m pleased to say that so far all of them are doing really well with both mums doing a great job.

The four wild cheetahs that were mentioned in a previous blog have had their work-ups and apart from being slightly underweight all are in good condition and have been fitted with an identification ear tag and transponder chip. The plan as I write this is to release them at the NamiBrand reserve once they are fully fit and healthy; I will keep you posted on what happens next.

I guess all that is left is for me to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a very happy new year!

Matt

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Category: Cheetah - Education, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs, Livestock Guarding Dogs | Date: Dec 23 2008 | By: cheetahconservation

As a NGO we rely heavily on donations and sponsorships, however the recent economic climate has affected the amount of funds people can afford to give. Therefore in 2009 the cheetah will need even more help from its friends all around the world. So please don’t be shy about spreading the word about CCF to your friends and family, we will need as much help and support as possible.

Despite these difficult times everyone here at CCF is continuing to do their best and as always it’s been a very busy 2 weeks. Firstly I have good news regarding the wild cheetah known as ‘Marvellous Marvin’. As you may recall Marvin came to us in very poor condition, weighing only 37kg. One detail of Marvin’s story I forgot to mention was that he came to us with a radio collar around his neck which had been placed there by Jorg Melzheimer, a researcher for the Cheetah Research Project and good friend of CCF. When we collected Marvin Jorg was notified and was very keen to collect him when he was fit and healthy so he could give him a new radio collar and release him back where he first trapped him. Well, after 3 weeks of receiving a 3kg piece of meat and 2 vitamin pills every day Marvin reached an impressive 51kgs and was therefore ready to be re-released. So on Wednesday the 10^th that is exactly what happened. Marvin was first put under anaesthetic and underwent a work up which was attended by Jorg. We were able to ascertain his weight, take further blood and sperm samples and Jorg fitted Marvin with the brand new radio collar. Marvin was given some time to recover and was then taken by Jorge to be re-released and thanks to his radio collar and Jorg’s research it will hopefully not be the last we hear of him.

Lizzie, our livestock guarding dog programme co-ordinator returned to CCF from her trip to the Mara Conservancy in Kenya and Lizzie is glad to report that it was a huge success. Kenya , the puppy that accompanied her on the long trip who will guard the local Masai’s livestock did CCF proud and behaved impeccably. Lizzie and Kenya were greeted by the Mara Conservancy staff and the local Masai with open arms and great enthusiasm. Lizzie was somewhat overwhelmed by the attention but little Kenya took it all in his stride. The Masai were at first unsure how to handle their unfamiliar new companion and petted him nervously as if he may break, but with reassurance from Lizzie the Masai soon learned that Kenya was made of stronger stuff and gave him a hug or two. So it seems the livestock guarding dog programme in Kenya has got of to the best possible start and we all wish Kenya good luck for his future as a very important CCF livestock guarding dog.

We are also currently running another of our farmer courses where farmers from all over Namibia come to CCF for two weeks and learn all about effective farm management that is profitable and predator friendly.

Finally, our number of resident cheetahs went from 50 to 48 as two of our females, Misty and Rosy, were relocated to the Namibrand Nature Reserve which my colleague Chris Gordon has published a blog about so please make sure you check that out to find out why this was done and how everything went.

Thanks for reading! Matt

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetahs, Livestock Guarding Dogs | Date: Dec 18 2008 | By: cheetahconservation

We just had a litter of nine Kangal Anatolian Shepherd livestock guarding dogs born. The mother, Ushi, was very protective yesterday, and today she allowed us to meet them all - 5 females and four males and all healthy - Ushi too! And today, we were brought four more cheetahs, a mother and 3 nearly grown cubs. They were caught near a cattle corral, suspect in catching calves. The farmer, a family of one of our employees, said that the reason they were causing problems with the livestock was that the farmers in the area had killed off all the wild game. We will work these cats up on Monday - we will anesthetize them and collect blood, measure them and give them a full health check. We are hoping to release them back into the wild shortly thereafter, if they all are in good health. So, we have our work cut out for the next several days. I hope we have a sort of calm Christmas - but one never knows… As, we are expecting another litter of puppies - they are due on Tuesday - but then they could be here on Christmas!

Best wishes to all, and remembetr we have a $75,000 Challenge to meet until 10th January. Every donation is matched one-for-one, so please be a part of this!

Laurie

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetahs, Livestock Guarding Dogs | Date: Dec 16 2008 | By: cheetahconservation

With so much going on the last couple of weeks I’ve forgotten to mention a cat we recently picked up who we affectionately called ‘Starvin Marvin’. Marvin is estimated to be around 5 years old and was collected on the 31^st of October from a farm in the Gobabis region. He was found in very poor condition as he had been held in a trap cage for a month because the farmer was using him as bait to catch other cheetahs.

Such prejudice towards the cheetah is still found in Namibia and is something CCF constantly tries to combat through education. Marvin was brought back to CCF and when placed on the table for his work up all CCF personnel were shocked to see how thin he was, weighing only 37 kg. After the work up Marvin was then placed into one of our quarantine pens to start his recovery. Everyday since his arrival Marvin has been fed a 3kg piece of meat (normally our cats get fed 2kg) and two vitamin pills. Slowly but surely Marvin has regained some of the weight he’d lost. Not only has he improved physically but also mentally, as for the first few days Marvin would always be found laying down looking very depressed and lethargic only moving to eat his food. However, he is much more active now, greeting his keepers by slapping his paws on the floor, hissing and spitting, which is exactly how a healthy wild cheetah should behave. It is only now that we have realised just what a big and handsome cat Marvin really is and is now known as Marvellous Marvin! It is hoped that once he has fully re-gained the weight he lost he will be able to be released back into the wild, I will keep you posted.

It was an important week for our eight month old brothers, Ngungu (Ovambo for clever) and Shunga (Ovambo for yellow) who made their public debut. The brothers came to CCF after they had been orphaned at the age of 3 months and since then have been cared for out of the sight of the public. The brothers have become great friends with our ambassador cheetah LittleC who they now see as their big brother. They were allowed to have full access to his enclosure for the first time this week and they were not shy at all about coming up to the feeding area at feeding time and posed for many a photo.

It was also a very important week for our livestock guarding dog (LSGD) programme as one of our livestock guarding dog puppies was donated to the Mara Conservancy in Kenya, the puppy who was suitably named ‘Kenya’ was accompanied by Lizzie, our LSGD co-ordinator, on the journey, and both received a warm reception upon arrival. ‘

Kenya ‘ will hopefully be the first of several dogs as we hope the LSGD programme in Kenya has the same success as it has in Namibia . I will tell you more about Lizzie and Kenya ’s adventure in next week’s blog when I will have heard all about the trip upon Lizzie’s return to CCF.

From Matt (a week ago)

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Category: Cheetah - Conservation Programmes, Livestock Guarding Dogs | Date: Sep 14 2008 | By: cheetahconservation

Sadly, our oldest breeding female and one of the founders of our dog programme, Zanta (at right, six years ago), had to be put to sleep due to age-related illnesses. She was 13 years old and had produced five litters and 54 litters number of puppies. Her daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughters are carrying on her legacy.

On a happier note, CCF staff members Liz Lester and Gebs Nikanor continue to work with the farmers to monitor the working dogs. All the dogs are doing well, although one was re-homed due to a lack of proper care by the owner. At the same time, research and treatment on several dogs that have been diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma on the tongue has continued, with Dr. Axel Hartman from the Otjiwarongo Veterinary Clinic taking the lead. The new Kangal puppies from Holland are growing fast, now six and eight months old. One of our older breeding females was just bred, so we can plan for puppies in two months.

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