Pepper April 2012

Pepper is very beautiful, confident and feisty 5-year-old female who has become a perfect ambassador cheetah since her arrival at N/a'an ku se's Namib Carnivore Conservation Centre in Solitaire, in November 2011.

Pepper was orphaned when only five months old and adopted by Fred and Onie Jacobs, owners of the Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch. Despite being raised by Fred and Onie since that time, Pepper had always retained a feisty, wild nature and always showed a desire to explore outside her enclosure. Because of this upon hearing of our 500ha enclosure here at the NCCC Fred and Onie started to consider the prospect of donating Pepper to the NCCC in order for her to experience a more wild life. The decision to part with a much loved animal must have been very difficult for Fred an Onie but stands as a testament to their desire to provide Pepper with the best possible life.

NCCC staff collected Pepper on the 23^rd of November, Onie and Fred accompanied her and upon arrival at the NCCC Pepper was taken straight to the 500ha enclosure where N/a’n ku se’s director Rudie van Vurren was waiting to dart Pepper and place her VHF radio collar on.

The procedure was over very quickly and Pepper given a quick acting reversal drug; as the sun was setting she slowly got to her feet and moved off to explore her new home and proved to be an emotional moment for Fred and Onie. 

The next morning NCCC staff went to the enclosure to check on their newest resident but there was a problem; when listening for the signal from Pepper’s collar on the radio-telemetry equipment Pepper’s collar had inexplicably stopped working. There was now no way to find Pepper and in a 500ha finding her without being able to use radio-telemetry was not going to be easy; especially as Pepper would be understandably nervous to come out into the open having found herself in a strange new environment.  

For a week NCCC staff worked tirelessly to try and find Pepper, her tracks were found on the roads but no matter how long they drove around the area calling and looking, Pepper would not come out of hiding. This became a worrying situation, as Pepper would now be in need of food.  Extra measures were required so N/a’an ku se’s head of research Florian Weise came down with San Bushman tracker Kiwet, who is renowned for his hugely impressive tracking skills.

The search for Pepper had only been going for an hour when Kiwet found tracks he believed to be very fresh, the other three cats in the enclosure were far away from this area so they had to be Pepper’s. The search party regrouped and began a thorough search of the surrounding area.  Only minutes had passed when Florian suddenly raised the alarm; he had found Pepper lying under a large bush. 

Pepper was lying contently, looking hungry but in good condition. It was a huge relief for everybody! Pepper was immediately given a bowl of water and some meat, which she looked extremely grateful for. The task now was to remove her broken collar and replace it with a new one.  A makeshift fence was quickly constructed around the bush to allow her to be darted safely, whilst this was happening Pepper simply laid there watching curiously. With Pepper enclosed Florian darted her easily and fitted her with a brand new radio collar. It was decided to leave her in the makeshift enclosure overnight, so that before releasing her she could be fed another meal and to check that the collar was still working!

In the morning Pepper was fully awake and her collar producing a loud and clear ‘Beep’ on the radio-telemetry equipment. She was ready for her second release.

Since her eventful first two weeks at the NCCC Pepper has done extremely well, she has become a tourist favourite during the cheetah-tracking safari’s as she is now comfortable being approached and poses beautifully for photographs. 

She has often been found with the big male Spartacus who has taken quite a shine to her and Pepper is often heard purring whilst the two are lying next to each other. This development is most welcome as both Spartacus and Pepper will never be released to the wild so it is great that the pair are developing a bond that is hoped will continue to grow.

Pepper has also successfully hunted two bat-eared foxes that made the mistake of entering the enclosure and even made an attempt to go after springbok on the outside of the enclosure; the fence thankfully held up and prevented her from breaking free but it left NCCC staff with a whole afternoon of fence repair. Thankfully she appears to have learned a lesson and not attempted to do it again!

Finally, all of us here at N/a’an ku se and the NCCC (especially Pepper) would like to say a huge thank you for your continuing support, without which our work to conserve Namibia’s carnivores would not be possible.