The adventurous release of our three cheetah cubs!
After four weeks being in their new release boma, it was time for our three youngsters to be fully released back to the wild. N/a’an ku sê Directors, Rudie and Marlice van Vuuren, and Head Researcher, Florian Weise joined fellow researchers, Lars and Christine down in the stunning NamibRand Nature Reserve at the beginning of June. Christine writes about the release...
The collaring of all three cheetahs on the 2nd June went very smoothly and was quickly and professionally carried out by the team. The cheetah soon came to the gate, baited by a freshly shot springbok, where Rudie waited with a dart gun to sedate them. Three shots for three cheetahs – that was it! They all went to sleep within the next 20 minutes and were then collared, measured, sampled and photographed. As the cheetah are still young, only 22-24 months old, we were careful not to put the collars on too tight, especially with the males, as their necks grow thicker than those of the females. We needed to ensure the collars would give them enough room to grow. After just 30 minutes the whole process was over and the cheetah were given the antidote to wake them up.
We left them safely running around after the car, checking for their well deserved pieces of meat. They were fed a little bit of a springbok, but the rest was kept so they remained hungry for the next day when we planned to open the gate and lure them outside the boma.
The next morning we awoke to find our plans needed to change! The smaller male had decided that he didn’t like the collar. He had worked on it all night long, and ended up having it stuck in his mouth! This was the second call for Rudie van Vuuren – our dart-master. The whole team went into the boma where we had to separate the one male cheetah with the collar in his mouth to dart him again. The cheetah was very excited, but he seemed to know that we wanted to help him. He sat and let Rudie get as close as 3m in front of him.
Once the male was sleeping, we relieved him of the collar for good. We were not sure if he would try that again and he had chewed the collar so it needed to be fixed. The animal’s safety always comes first so we decided not to re-collar him. He is likely to remain with his brother, as cheetah males tend to stay in coalitions, and as his brother is successfully wearing a GPS collar we hope to be able to monitor them both together.
With the cheetah being immobilized again, twice within 24 hours, we agreed that it would be safest to let them calm down, regain their strength and to feel safe again. So, the release was not going to happen yet!
One week later, N/a’an ku sê Project Manager, Cila, arrived in NamibRand and joined Lars and I to release the cheetah three. We placed a fresh springbok in front of the gate, called them and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited……..
Finally after 3 hours they were brave enough, or maybe hungry enough, to make their first steps into the wild! Another 90 minutes later they were fat and lazy after feeding on the whole springbok. They spent their first hours of freedom next to the fence of the release boma... but they were outside!
Over the next few days the call of the wild became clear as they moved away from their known territory of the boma and started to explore their new life……
We look forward with great excitement to tracking these three over the coming weeks, months and years.
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