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BY Dr. Mark Jago VetMB, MRCVS (AfriCat veterinarian and AfriCat
Board Member)
"To manage Namibia’s rare, endangered, endemic
and valuable species and habitats so that they are protected, enhanced
and contribute economically to their maintenance and to that of
Namibian Society" is a central objective of Namibia’s
Ministry of Environment and Tourism, and one in which Namibia has
already made considerable advances, and of which the nation should
be proud.
The primary threat facing large carnivores is the Human Wildlife
Conflict, which is as great in Namibia, as anywhere else in Africa.
The carnivore’s conflict with man in the country has evolved
over many years and has been affected by drought conditions, economic
considerations, farming practices and environmental regulations.
None of these is solely responsible for the large carnivore’s
present status, but their combined and cumulative effects have
altered the population by causing rapid declines in the recent
past.
Take a moment and read again the government’s objective ……… "contribute
economically to their maintenance".......
The corner stone to success of conservation
rests on that old adage "If it pays, it stays". Gone are the extravagant days
of setting aside large expanses of land solely for preservation
of the world’s
fauna and flora, in isolation from the needs of the people living
in and around those areas. Today, it has to be a symbiotic relationship
between the needs of the dominant Homo sapiens and everything else
which attempts to eke out an existence from the planet’s
rapidly diminishing natural resources.
So, how can the carnivores of Namibia contribute to their own
survival in our modern world? Perhaps the most valuable is the
advent of tourism. Life styles of many living in the western
world include the well-earned holiday. Incomes permit a significant
amount to be spent on vacations. Modern air travel allows us to
move around the world and back in the twinkle of an eye. Few will
pass up the opportunity to be able to see the African wilderness
in all its splendour, in particular when one can view it from the
luxury of a modern tourist establishment. Today
in Namibia, a significant amount of the money which visitors spend
during their time in the country, finds its way back into the programmes
which aid in the conservation of the animals living there.
Take a community of rural farmers who depend on their livestock
to feed their families and to derive an income for other needs:
If a lion, leopard or cheetah should kill their livestock, then
naturally they would want away with it. But, what if there was
a community-run lodge, where people stayed and paid to see the
carnivores, and a portion of that money went into a kitty which
was managed by the community itself, and which was able to pay
out in the event of a livestock loss? Now you have a self-sustaining,
self- insurance scheme, that it is in the interest of the local
farmer to be a part of. Not only are
his loss-costs covered, but also there are opportunities for his
wife and children to be employed, and when the lodge makes a profit,
he receives a dividend either as a cash hand-out or as a new school
or health clinic. This is the Namibia of today.
Speed, elegance and rarity are words which describe one of our
most studied carnivores. Referred to as "slightly social" cats,
the female cheetah is a solitary creature associating with males
only to mate, while the males form coalitions of anything from
2 to 5 individuals. Cheetah litters normally consist of three to
five cubs. The raising of the cubs is left entirely to the female.
It is an arduous task and infant mortality can be high. Territory
sizes vary from ecosystem to ecosystem and from individual to individual
and appear to be determined by a number of factors including cheetah
density and the availability of prey.
Namibia has the largest remaining population
of cheetah anywhere in the world, with 25% of all cheetahs living
within its borders. Of these 90% live on farmlands, where they come into conflict with
farmers and their livestock on a daily basis. During the 1980’s
and 90’s between 600-1000 cheetahs were destroyed on an annual
basis by farmers and hunters, today that number has been reduced
to a reported 200-300 per year. The three pillars of conservation,
namely ministry, private sector and non-government organisations
have joined forces to work together, to increase awareness of the
plight of the cheetah and to find solutions to the conflicting
interests of farmer and predator. Research into cheetah numbers,
distribution and behaviour, runs parallel with wildlife education
for children and workshops for newly emerging farmers on how to
coexist with their wild heritage.
Okonjima, Herero for "place of the baboon", is an
extensive tract of land nestling amongst the Omboroko Mountains
some fifty kilometers south of the small town of Otjiwarongo. Historically,
the surrounding land would have been home to some of Africa’s
finest wildlife, today it is farmland. For the last 35 years Okonjima
has been in the hands of the Hanssen family. Today, fifteen years
after Wayne, Donna & Rosalea Hanssen took over a cattle farm
from their father, the original farm has grown in size to 25, 000
hectares, the cattle have gone, grasslands are returning and the
wildlife abounds. The key to the Okonjima experience is the AfriCat
Foundation, a non- profit organisation dedicated to the conservation
of Namibia’s large carnivores. With the cheetah as its flagship,
the foundation works alongside the farming community, attempting
to help alleviate the livestock losses caused by predators. AfriCat
is the world’s largest cheetah & leopard ‘rescue
and release programme’, with over 890 cats rescued since
1993. AfriCat is also home to many orphaned and injured large
carnivores.
To observe these magnificent animals in natural surroundings and to witness the
rehabilitation efforts to return them to the wild, provides the visitor with
the chance to come to know a little more about the story of Africa, its harmonies
and its conflicts.
The wheel turns full circle as the traveller leaves Okonjima with
the knowledge that through her visit, she has laid yet another
stone in the road to recovery for Africa’s carnivores.
Highlighted text
The corner stone to success
of conservation rests on that old adage "If it pays, it stays".
Today in Namibia, a significant
amount of the money which visitors spend during their time in
the country, finds its way back into the programmes which aid
in the conservation of the animals living there.
Not only are his loss-costs covered, but also there are opportunities
for his wife and children
to be employed, and when the lodge makes
a profit, he receives a dividend either as a cash
hand-out or as
a new school or health clinic.
This is the Namibia of today.
AfriCat Facts
- Namibia has the largest remaining population of cheetah anywhere
in the world, with 25% of all cheetahs living within its borders.
Of these 90% live on farmlands.
- The AfriCat Foundation is the world’s largest cheetah
and leopard rescue and release programme.
- Over 890 cats have been rescued since 1993.
- A ‘Rehabilitated Cheetah’ is an orphaned cheetah,
which has NOT been hand-raised, but has been in captivity from
a cub to adulthood; once it has been through the programme, it
has adapted well, can hunt and fend for itself in the wild.
- It is important to remember that AFRICAT’S Cheetah Rehabilitation
Programme was initiated to give some of their captive cheetahs
an opportunity to return to their natural environment. Although
hunting in carnivores is instinctive, many of the cheetahs at
AFRICAT lack experience due to being orphaned or removed from
the wild at an early age.
- Besides giving orphaned cheetahs a chance to return to the
wild, the success of the AfriCat project provides other substantial
benefits: it gives us the opportunity to assess whether rehabilitation
is a successful means of conserving an endangered population
and also reduces the number of cheetahs in captivity
Would you like to help?
- Be a concerned & observant visitor and report any cruelty
to large carnivores in captivity to The AfriCat Foundation, The
Cheetah Conservation Fund or to the Ministry of Environment and
Tourism, Namibia.
- If you would like to support large carnivore research in Namibia,
please contact The AfriCat Foundation.
Contact details: Tel: + 264 – 67 - 304566 / 306585
www.africat.org
email: africat@mweb.com.na
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