Cheetah release 24th July 2010 number 10, 11 and 12

On the 24th of July @ 8:30 – saw the release of the next group of 3 captive cheetahs into the 16 000ha Okonjima Nature Reserve.

Toby (Male), Zen (Female) & Zippy (Female) – all 3 siblings.

Again a sad, but realistic history connected to this group. Their mother was shot by a farmer and they ended up at our AfriCat welfare project when they were only a year old.

Now 7 ½ years old – they have been in captivity for a long time, but because of the following reasons – we have decided to take a chance and give them a feel of what their life might have been like if their mother was not shot and they had grown up in the wild:

All three siblings still have good, strong teeth and are in good condition so there is no reason why they shouldn’t manage to hunt and kill prey
They had a year in the wild with their mother, so there is a slight chance they might still have some kind of memory of what their mother might have taught them
All three siblings have stayed nervous of man, and have somehow never completely calmed down

This is exactly what you need when looking for a group of captive cheetahs to release. Healthy & strong; a coalition or group that have a strong bond; still pretty wild and with some time spent with their mother in the bush.

This is also why the release was exciting yet only ‘half’ successful for the guests that were lucky enough to experience this special day.

Dave and Carla tried every trick in the book to get them to leave their comfort zone and run into the wild . . . instead our Okonjima guests experienced the reality of how afraid they actually are of leaving the hold-over camp they were use to.
Perhaps the amount of spectators also made them think twice?! They mock-charged and made lots of noise. They came out, then ran back again and no amount of whistling or the promise of a very easy meal waiting for them – only if they come out – was enough to keep them out, long enough to allow Carla to close the gate behind them.The heat then set in and they gave up and went and lay under an acacia.

Our guests then had to wish them well and leave. The gate was left open and when the AfriCat team came to check up on them later the afternoon, they were all 3 out of their camp and somewhere in the bush!

We wish them well!

PS: Notice the aerials connected to the collars.

Some of the collars have the aerial inside the leather strap/collar, but these 3 cheetahs have them exposed. This is to give us a longer range of signal if they decide to move to the very far end of the park, either because they are uncomfortable with the amount of ‘traffic’ they might experience near the lodges – or because the cheetah that were released first have claimed the near-by territories already. Time will tell.

Watch this space to follow their progress . . .

The Okonjima and AfriCat Team.