Samira has new company in her enclosure by the name of Chiquita, also a female cheetah, who actually came to N/a'an ku se with Samira and another cheetah, Vasco. some years ago.
All 3 cheetahs had been rescued from a farm after being raised poorly as pets. When they were brought here, Chiquita and Vasco were much more wild than Samira, which is why they were seperated into different camps. Chiquita had been fed on a diet of dog food and mieliepap before coming to N'a'an ku sê, which left her in a very weak state. She arrived at the farm thin and had only 4 teeth remaining.
Recently, our Wildlife Co-ordinators had noticed she was off her food and looking very ill. Rudie darted her and brought her in for an examination to find out what the problem was. After assessment it turns out one of her few canines left was growing the wrong way, inside her gum, leaving her in pain and distress. We sent her to the Veterinary Hospital in Windhoek where she was operated on, leaving her relieved and much more comfortable. afterwards.
During the period of time when she was in and out of the veterinary clinic, she moved in with Samira, to reduce the stress of moving in and out of her camp with the other wild cheetahs. Samira's camp is much closer to our veterinary clinic on the farm and so the upheaval is much less. Having now lived with Samira for over 2 months Chiquita is in much better shape and it has been decided to keep the two cheetahs living together as she seems much happier. Though she does not like to be groomed or petted, she does interact with the volunteers when they feed her.
All 3 cheetahs had been rescued from a farm after being raised poorly as pets. When they were brought here, Chiquita and Vasco were much more wild than Samira, which is why they were seperated into different camps. Chiquita had been fed on a diet of dog food and mieliepap before coming to N'a'an ku sê, which left her in a very weak state. She arrived at the farm thin and had only 4 teeth remaining.
During the period of time when she was in and out of the veterinary clinic, she moved in with Samira, to reduce the stress of moving in and out of her camp with the other wild cheetahs. Samira's camp is much closer to our veterinary clinic on the farm and so the upheaval is much less. Having now lived with Samira for over 2 months Chiquita is in much better shape and it has been decided to keep the two cheetahs living together as she seems much happier. Though she does not like to be groomed or petted, she does interact with the volunteers when they feed her.
Samira still tends to be the volunteers' favourite though and is visited frequently for a thorough brush down and stroke. Samira has also become the latest candidate for our Footprint ID software data collection. We are developing a new piece of software to identify wild cheetahs using their footprints. We are using the cheetahs at our sanctuary as data to test the software's useability. Samira has been made to walk across a patch of sand several times and her tracks photographed and documented for the program. The process was made very easy by Samira who would do almost anything for a piece of chicken and the entire operation was over very quickly!
No comments:
Post a Comment