Since many of these cheetahs are on privately owned land, is there a predator compensation program in place? An education program for the ranchers and farmers? Are the other ranchers looking for a lifestock guard dog, like yours? When you complete your studies, who do you submit your finds to? Sorry about all these questions…cheetahs are very close to my heart.

Rox, pay pal is not working right now on any of the blogs. When it is up and running, a little help toward the GPS collars will be on the way. In memory of your Dalerwa, a very brave soul in my eyes.

May I start off by thanking you very much for your donation. It really helps and we will put it to very good use. These collars make such a difference.
Some of the issues you mention are a little contentious so please let me begin by stating that any opinions I give are mine, not necessarily those of the company I work for.
There is not a predator compensation programme, and I do not necessarily think this is a bad thing, as they are not always sustainable long term. I believe in finding long term ways of making it easier to coexist. Education from the EWTs Wildlife Conflict Prevention Group goes along way towards this and they are a really driven and effective group of people. They have recently issued a booklet on predators and farmers which shows how to identify exactly what is killing their stock and how to prevent it. I am in an unusual position being both a conservationist and a farmer. We are farming in a very marginal area here. We have low rainfall, high temperatures and disease is rife. We all vaccinate our animals against a number of things, ranging from Rabies, Pulpy kidney, to Anthrax. I see predator control as a form of vaccination. Rather than wait for the animals to get sick (get eaten) we should be protecting them in the first place by vaccination, or in this case, sensible stock protection methods. Bringing in the stock at night, the use of dogs, the use of herdsmen, and a number of other methods, all drastically reduce stock loss to predators and are much cheaper in the long run. Pego, for example, eats the monetary equivalent of half less than goat a month. We were losing much more than that at one point. People do want to use dogs, but they are expensive. A dog like him costs R4000, which is not quite the value of a cow here. Its a lot of money and small scale farmers may not be able to afford it. Smaller mongrels can work, but they struggle to fend off some of the larger predators. We are looking at Spotted Hyaenas and 80kg Limpopo Leopards here, not just a few jackals. The important point is that the best, most long lasting ways of reducing stock loss are those that do not involve killing predators. It is a case of being better the devil you know. Predators in secure territories kill less than opportunistic individuals passing through. By keeping the farm filled to capacity with predators, they effectively keep out the roamers who would cause more trouble. If you remove the residents, there are vacant territories, which may be traversed or occupied by anyone. In my opinion the three leopards using our farm that do not touch livestock are like gold dust. They keep out other leopards that might.
I am studying with the Wildlife and Research Management Group at Rhodes University in South Africa.
Cheetahs…. also very close to my heart. I worked mainly on cheetahs before this project. I am thrilled to see how well they seem to be doing here, but am concerned about the threats posed to them, in particular by roads. The tendency of cheetahs to stick with a fallen companion makes them very vulnerable.
Dalerwa’s death was not in vain. We tried to make the most of the tragedy and took samples of all body tissue and samples for DNA, so he is he contributing to a number of Wild Dog conservation projects currently underway in South Africa.

the recent article on the problem of road kill on wildlife was posted in the African Geo.. road or fast moving vehicles and careless drivers are killers to all wildlife. sadly, even law on lower the speed limit might not work. and we all know why especially where remote areas are concerned.

the extremely endangered cougars in florida too have been road kill year after year. there are signs; but so what? every one is in a hurry! people now appear to be so self absorbed and self centered.
it is a crime for the three cheetah cubs to be run over. cheetah parts for medicine? just like tiger parts i guess. all in one’s mind, one’s culture and myth. i am chinese; so i know the whole thing about consuming wild animal parts for one’s health or one’s sexual drive. so many animals or species of animals are extinct because of what we think instead of what we really know. too many needless death and needless unbearable cruelty done on animals just because humans think bear bile is good to one’s health or one’s hair.

I think the difference with the parts being used with most of our carnivores is that the market is local. It is the local “traditional healers” that use bits, like the hyaena taill that was missing from the body in a previous posting. This means that prices are not so high and the threat from this corner is much lower than where there is an international market. I think bits are taken opportunistically off dead animals, but in this area I do not think poaching for body parts is a problem, like in many other places and with other species.

thanks for your quick response. i did read an article where a cheetah was snared right by the border of the Kalahari. this lucky cheetah was rescued and freed by staff from the wilderness safari camp. it was not a good sign of having snares around that remote area.

parts taken from the deceased animals, i guess is okay. but how does one know, right? let’s hope it won’t turn into something fashionable in this so called free market of supply and demand. any way, there are far more human beings than any wild four legged animals or no legged ones or those swimming in our oceans. i have to agree with the character in the movie, ” matrix”. that character is the fearsome computer generated man who states the human race is one big all consuming thing that either uses up or sucks up all life forms on earth.
the cheetah family is so lucky to have you as their neighbor. and that includes the little female leopardess.

Sorry to join this discussion late and thanks Rox for your insights. Will your studies help implement new strategies for wildlife preservation of your carnivores? It is good to know Dalerwa will help the future of wild dogs conservation also. I do have a habit of “humanizing” animals, but I can’t help it. Sauwah, I agree with you…every month at least one or two Florida Panthers are killed by motorists, soon we will have none of them in the wild. Short of building underpasses for wildlife, speed bumps would cut down on the incidence of road kill. Thanks Rox, and give Snoopy and Barclay a big hug from me.

I am having a few technical issues with posting so please bear with me…

theresa, underpass might not work for the panthers in your state. i learned about this tragedy from the care2 web site under big cats. its group wants the governor to build or lengthen the fence along the big cypress reserve on the state 29. panthers do get run over there most. the last one was only a year old!

I know Sauwah, its awful! Est. numbers of these panthers are between 30-50 left in the wild. Fragmented habitat has caused these beautiful cats to take risky crossings. Black bears are also being killed by motorists, for the same reason in my state.

theresa, are you a wildlife vet? or someone experts in wildlife in africa? i just have a lot of affection and sympathy for all big/medium/small size cats of all kind ( domestic or wild). in my opinion, they are the truly underdogs. calling cats dogs, funny to me. bears and snakes too since they too are the most commonly abused animals by men/women in all cultures.

No Sauwah, I’m a registered nurse, my specialty is cardiac care. But my real passion is wildlife conservation. My heroes include Dr Jane Goodall and the late crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin, crikey mate, I miss him!