Part one this blog entry focused a
lot on the heartbreaking nature of this line of work but this part
contains a lot of joy! After Annie’s death we decided to check on Betty
every three days to closely monitor her progress. We felt enormous
relief every time we found her alive and well. Relief was followed by
real encouragement in early April when we discovered her with a big full
belly. Her kill was still close by; a juvenile Aardwolf. Betty had now
proven herself capable of surviving on her own and we decided to back
off from our intensive monitoring and check on her every 10 days.
I
am pleased to report that since the Aardwolf kill Betty has gone from
strength to strength. The following map shows her movements since the
GPS collar was placed on her.
Our
ability to observe Betty at close quarters has provided us a unique
opportunity to document the progress of this re-released cheetah. She
has remained on friendly territory close to her release site, is hunting
regularly and is looking in extremely good health.
On the 1st of August Betty’s GPS point located her on property belonging to Ababis Guest Farm, who are one of our neighbours and kindly allow us onto their land. Myself and our N/a'an ku se volunteers were closing in on Betty’s signal on foot when in the distance we saw a cheetah head pop up out of the long grass. We immediately hid ourselves behind some bush and a quick check through the binoculars confirmed that it was Betty. Then, to our surprise, another cheetah head popped up just behind hers! From a distance we continued to observer the two cheetahs for almost an hour. Betty’s companion crept closer to her position but we could only ever see the head, making it hard to ascertain if it was a male of female.
Chances
of course are high that it was indeed a male trying to impress our
beautiful Betty, especially as only days previously a male was sighted
in that exact area. After the shock of loosing Annie, the thought of
finding Betty with cubs in three months time would be a dream come true.
We will of course keep you informed of any developments!
Another unforgettable encounter occurred only weeks later. On the 2nd of September Betty was again spotted on Ababis’ property during one of our game counts stalking a large group of Oryx. She crept to within almost 100m from the group but one observant Oryx spotted her and spooked the herd into running away. The next morning myself and our volunteers headed straight to the area where the Oryx herd was last sighted and a loud ‘beep’ form our radio-telemetry receiver indicated Betty was very close. We moved towards the ‘beep’ and hoped to find Betty tucking into a kill or at least nursing a very full belly.
I then heard rustling in the bushes ahead and whispered for everyone to stop, a young oryx calf then shot across us through the grass, closely followed by Betty....... we couldn’t believe our eyes! Betty and her prey quickly disappeared into long grass and we in turn gave chase. Within seconds the distinctive cry of an oryx in distress was heard and then silence.
Our
heart rates soaring we crept closer until we spotted the flailing legs
of the young Oryx, which was on its back with Betty’s mouth biting tight
around its throat. Thankfully for the unlucky calf death came very
quickly. It is moments like this which make me feel extremely grateful
to be doing the job I am! We watched intently as Betty released her
grip on the lifeless body and moved to the shade of a nearby tree,
panting heavily. We watched for an hour but Betty chose not to tuck into
her kill. Judging by her belly she looked to have already eaten
something recently so the Oryx calf may just have been an opportunistic
kill. We decided to leave her but I had already made up my mind to
return the next day to confirm if Betty had eaten.
First
thing the next morning I headed out to the same area and after getting
by bearings a little wrong I ended up approaching the scene from a
different angle to the previous day and found myself a little too close
to Betty and her kill. She wasted no time charging towards me, hissing
and spitting. I slowly backed away and was pleased to observe a much
bigger belly on Betty and a good portion of the calf’s hind quarters
eaten. Having confirmed what I wanted to know I left Betty alone to
continue enjoying her prize. Watching Betty successfully living life as a
wild cheetah has been a joy
for me and Kate and no matter what the future may hold we are
exceptionally proud of her!
We
are the Namib CARNIVORE Conservation Centre so that does mean we deal
with animals other than cheetahs. In early September 2011 two orphaned
female Genets we found alone in the bush and handed over to us. Genets
are very shy nocturnal animals and quite rare to see. They are very good
climbers and spend most of the night on the hunt for small mammals,
reptiles and birds.
The two young sisters were kept away from human activity and Kate, myself and our volunteers have had many interesting nights trying to catch frogs from the river bed to feed them. Sadly, earlier this year one of the sisters died of an unknown cause but on the 29th of July the surviving Genet named ‘Jenny’ was released behind our campsite, marking our fourth carnivore release. Jenny has not been sighted since but that was to be expected due to her shy nature but we hope she is enjoying her freedom again.
So
as promised a blog entry filled with some happier stories! I'll leave
with a quick reminder to all our British friends that the Animal Planet
documentary series about N/a'an ku se called "Wild Animal Orphans"
has just begun so make sure to check it out on Thursdays at 8pm,
especially because The NCCC is featured in the series finale!
On the 1st of August Betty’s GPS point located her on property belonging to Ababis Guest Farm, who are one of our neighbours and kindly allow us onto their land. Myself and our N/a'an ku se volunteers were closing in on Betty’s signal on foot when in the distance we saw a cheetah head pop up out of the long grass. We immediately hid ourselves behind some bush and a quick check through the binoculars confirmed that it was Betty. Then, to our surprise, another cheetah head popped up just behind hers! From a distance we continued to observer the two cheetahs for almost an hour. Betty’s companion crept closer to her position but we could only ever see the head, making it hard to ascertain if it was a male of female.
Another unforgettable encounter occurred only weeks later. On the 2nd of September Betty was again spotted on Ababis’ property during one of our game counts stalking a large group of Oryx. She crept to within almost 100m from the group but one observant Oryx spotted her and spooked the herd into running away. The next morning myself and our volunteers headed straight to the area where the Oryx herd was last sighted and a loud ‘beep’ form our radio-telemetry receiver indicated Betty was very close. We moved towards the ‘beep’ and hoped to find Betty tucking into a kill or at least nursing a very full belly.
I then heard rustling in the bushes ahead and whispered for everyone to stop, a young oryx calf then shot across us through the grass, closely followed by Betty....... we couldn’t believe our eyes! Betty and her prey quickly disappeared into long grass and we in turn gave chase. Within seconds the distinctive cry of an oryx in distress was heard and then silence.
The two young sisters were kept away from human activity and Kate, myself and our volunteers have had many interesting nights trying to catch frogs from the river bed to feed them. Sadly, earlier this year one of the sisters died of an unknown cause but on the 29th of July the surviving Genet named ‘Jenny’ was released behind our campsite, marking our fourth carnivore release. Jenny has not been sighted since but that was to be expected due to her shy nature but we hope she is enjoying her freedom again.
We
are also currently holding two young Caracal kittens that we collected
on the 18th of June after receiving a call from another of our
neighbours after one of her worker's dogs had killed the mother.
Upon
collection we determined that we had a pair of sisters who have
subsequently been named Kylie and Dani. We will keep the sisters until
they have reached maturity where we then aim to source a radio collar
and release them back to the wild.
