Saving the wild cheetahs - part 1

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I’ve spent the last six weeks volunteering for the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia. I’ve had a fantastic time so far, and the best part is that I’ll be here for six more weeks as well.

CCF was founded in 1990 by American born Dr Laurie Marker and in the decades since has made one of the greatest single contributions to the future survival of the wild cheetah population of Africa. In 1900 there were around 100,000 cheetahs in the wild, but the twentieth century saw a sharp decline in their numbers due to the pressures of an expanding human population and the demands for hunting trophies, and by 1975 this figure had dropped to 30,000. Even with increased environmental awareness, their numbers continued to drop, with farmers killing almost 1000 every year through the 1980s.

Today there are approximately 12,000 cheetahs left in the wild, with 3000 of those in Namibia. Outside of Africa, the sole surviving wild cheetah population is to be found in Iran, but those number less than 200 individuals.

The scope of CCF’s activities is remarkably broad and as a long-term volunteer I’ve had the opportunity to get involved with many of them. It’s an exciting place to work, with new challenges, and new adventures to be found during each successive day. With newly regained Internet access I plan to recount as many of my adventures here as I can, starting with the tale of a brave female cheetah and her tiny cub.

CCF was contacted by a farmer in the south of Namibia who had been forced to trap a cheetah female and her cub after she had repeatedly tried to force her way into his goat kraal (pen). This is not typical cheetah behavior, since the kraal was well fenced and wild game plentiful in the area. A team was dispatched to pick up the two cheetahs and return with them to CCF for a medical examination, followed hopefully, by a release back into the wild.

Once the female was brought into the clinic, it quickly became clear why she had been forced to try and prey on goats. The innermost toe on one of her hind legs had been broken off, and a section of bone was protruding from the wound! It must have been excruciatingly painful, and would certainly have prevented her from chasing down wild game.

With assistance from the local vet, we were able to clean up the wound, then stitch and bandage it.

While it is impossible to be 100% certain, the wound seems consistent with the sorts of injuries usually incurred when caught in a Gin trap. What probably happened is that a neighbouring farmer set the trap in a misguided attempt to protect his own stock from the perceived threat of wild predators and succeeded instead in generating problems for his colleague.

The cub was found to be healthy and has been re-united with his mother. For the time being however, the two must remain at CCF, at least until the mother’s foot has healed. At present it’s impossible to tell if she will ever be able to hunt for herself again, but the wound appears to be healing well, and we change her bandages every few days.

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Photos

Cheetah female
An orphaned female cheetah living at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.

CCF offices and clinic
The offices, and clinic of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia. In the foreground is a cheetah enclosure.

CCF clinc
Staff at the cheetah conservation Fund in Namibia work on an injured cheetah.

Bandaging an injured foot
Bandages are applied on the injured foot of a female cheetah.

Changing bandages
Every few days the bandages must be changed on this injured female.