Cheetah Conservation Fund

Category: Cheetah - General | Date: Dec 12 2007 | By: admin

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.

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Category: Cheetahs | Date: Dec 07 2007 | By: admin

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.

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Category: Cheetah - Research | Date: Dec 07 2007 | By: admin

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.

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Category: Cheetahs | Date: Dec 07 2007 | By: admin

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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Category: Cheetah - Research | Date: Oct 31 2007 | By: admin

We have now collared cat number four and are currently downloading data from the first three. From these collars we hope to learn the habitat type the cats are using and also their daily movements and use of playtrees. We will also be comparing range size to a 10-year study already conducted at CCF to determine how prey and vegetation changes may have affected this. The pictures below show the collar which weighs 350 grams, and a GMS map showing the movement of one cat through neighbouring farms.

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Category: Cheetah - Education | Date: Oct 15 2007 | By: admin

It has been a busy but exciting week for our education programs. We started off the week with a group from Okamatapatii Combined School coming to participate in our centre based education program. This group of secondary learners stayed at our tented Camp Lightfoot for 2 days to learn about the cheetah and its role in the ecosystem. We started off the day with a cheetah run to show the learners these beautiful and unique cats in action. This is always a highlight for the learners as well as visitors, and it keeps our resident cheetahs in good shape. They also had the opportunity to observe a medical workup of a wild cheetah. Other activities they take part in during their stay include the cheetah feeding, a scavenger hunt through our cheetah museum and a game drive through the big field. Through this they learn not only about the cheetah but how important predator/prey interactions are for the ecosystem as a whole.

The learners also had the opportunity to meet a new addition to CCF, Little C, a four month old male cheetah. Little C was brought to us by a farmer who found him and his dead sibling. Despite attempts the mother wasn’t found and so he came to live with us. He will be an important part of our education program helping us to teach others why these animals should be wild and free. It is important for others to understand that the animals living with us have been orphaned and wouldn’t survive in the wild without their mother.

We have been fortunate to be joined by Courtney Van Dijk, a master’s student in Environmental Education at Lakehead University in Thunderbay Ontario. Courtney brings with her much experience from leading a science camp for five years, to teaching middle school and university students. She has provided new activities not only for the learners visiting CCF but for the teachers of Otjiwarango, our nearest town. She initiated a workshop for local teachers to learn more about implementing Environmental Education in schools and led them through activities that could be shared with their students. We had a good response as many teachers were already interested in the topic and enjoyed learning new ways to include it in their classrooms. She has also helped train our staff to carry on these workshops after she leaves.

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Category: Cheetah - General | Date: Oct 12 2007 | By: admin

In Namibia, the country with the largest number of wild cheetah and CCF’s home base, CCF has achieved important results. Internationally, CCF actively works raising awareness, communicating, educating and training. CCF’s Dr. Laurie Marker is a member of the Core Group of the IUCN’s Cat Specialist Group (CSG), and maintains international communications on the status of cheetah populations worldwide, including their relationship with man, and threats to their survival. However, there is much that needs to be done throughout cheetah-range countries. We must continue to build capacity in these areas.

CCF not only endeavours to conserve the cheetah and its habitat but also to act as a conservation model for other species in conflict with humans, and hence our commitment to globalise our programmes for use in other countries and with other species in conflict with humans.

Our international programme currently includes distributing CCF materials, lending resources and support, and providing training throughout Africa and the rest of the world. Already, CCF is supporting a small satellite office in Kenya. In addition, CCF has trained and helped develop satellite programmes in Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Iran, where it continues to provide support, advice, and monitor progress. We are attempting to increase support to cheetah-range countries through the establishment of new centres using the working model developed in Namibia. Shorter-term actions include:

Kenya - The Kenya cheetah population has declined over the past decade. The Kenya Wildlife Service has asked CCF to determine population distribution in the country as well as to identify population needs. CCF established a Kenyan satellite centre and employed two staff to begin research, conservation and education programmes. As it is in its infancy stage it is actively networking throughout Kenya, identifying and communicating with stakeholders to develop confidence and cooperation. And, as was first done when CCF Namibia was established, it is beginning its research with farmer surveys to analyse issues, attitudes and management practices and with eco-system research in game monitoring. Results of research indicate that land fragmentation results in cheetah livestock conflict in high human population areas, with farmers doing very little to alleviate the problem in non-lethal manners. In addition, CCF is assisting with a project in the Masai Mara to study the impact of tourism on cheetahs and has worked with the industry to distribute awareness materials. In cooperation with Friends of Conservation, Kenya Wildlife Service, and Kenya Wildlife Clubs, CCF has provided student and teacher resource materials for their use in schools throughout Kenya. For more information about CCF’s work in Kenya, click here.

Botswana - Botswana’s cheetah population may be the second-largest free-ranging population, and a large percentage of these are found outside of protected areas. Botswana has used CCF as a model in the development of their programmes. CCF has trained the Botswana Cheetah team in handling cheetahs and in developing survey and educational materials that will be utilised with the local farming community. A Livestock Guarding Dog programme is being developed to assist in non-lethal predator control.

South Africa - CCF helped establish Cheetah OutReach, which uses hand-raised, captive-born cheetahs as educational ambassadors at local schools, and introduces the public to the problems facing the cheetah. Cheetah OutReach has adapted CCF’s Namibian education model and has developed and implemented school curriculum with the Western Cape Education Department. This model is being taken into other areas of South Africa.

Iran - The Iranian Cheetah Conservation project is supported by a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) grant titled “Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah, Its Natural Habitat and Associated Biota.” As CCF’s director, Dr. Marker has made several trips during dangerous times to participate in and guide the conservation planning of the last Asian cheetahs.

North and West Africa (Sahel cheetah) - Dr. Marker is an active member of a newly developing North and West African project to identify the needs to save the Sahel cheetah. Currently working in cooperation with the French Zoological Park, the Paris Museum of Natural History, and the Cat Specialist Group, CCF is working to identify key partners to assess the problems and to assist with developing a survey to assess cheetah distribution.

Ethiopia - In November 2005, CCF representatives were able to coordinate a group of Ethiopian officials and concerned individuals helped by representatives in the US Embassy in Addis, the US military unit, and the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme to rescue two cheetah cubs in Gode –south eastern Ethiopia, and transport them to safety. The circumstances of this rescue made evident the problems facing wildlife in that country. Consequently, CCF and the team in Ethiopia are working with other Ethiopian officials and international organisations to develop a protocol for future cases of illegal catching of young animals. In addition, CCF has made recommendations for training and capacity building.

None of CCF’s practices are specific to Africa or cheetahs; thus, many of our programmes are being replicated around the world by other wildlife conservation organisations. Training programs that CCF has developed to work with communities are being incorporated by the Iranian Cheetah Society, Global Cheetah Forum, Laikipia Predator Project in Kenya, Predators and People in Tanzania, and the Jaguar Conservation Fund. CCF’s success was used as a model to form the Wildlife Conservation Network, which uses an entrepreneurial approach in choosing programmes supporting other endangered species including the Andean cat, African wild dogs, and Ethiopian wolves.

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