|
Daddy
Byron
 It
is with great pleasure that we announce that Byron our first ambassador
is now a father to be.
This momentous occasion has happened purely by chance. We were doing
some filming with Kyknet’s Groen team and since they are also
generously sponsoring a Ssangyong vehicle as we do (ours is commonly
known as the Byron Mobile), we thought it fitting that Byron feature
in some of the cut away links that they would need for the programme.
We loaded Byron into the back of his vehicle and drove him down ambassador
lane to the run area for his part in the filming. All went very well
and he lazed on the newly mown grass with the presenter at his side.
As always, he was the star of the show. Since they needed to do one
more link with our beautiful sponsored Ssangyong – this time without
Byron in frame – we decided to keep him busy with a little walk
around the run area until we could load him back into his chariot.
We are in the height of breeding season at the moment and Byron has
never been used in the breeding programme, so it was with much astonishment
that we found him dragging us along to the fence of our prized female
runner ‘Graca’. Here he proceeded to chuckle and stutter
call, which is the mating call of the cheetah. I have never heard a
cheetah so vocal. No amount of begging, pleading and luring with is
favourite food bowl and a mountain of treats would convince him to get
back into his car. I called Ann over the radio and asked her to listen
to what was going on – by depressing the radio call button and
holding the radio to Byron’s mouth – she was able to hear
his romantic serenade to Graca. She immediately wanted to know if we
were in lover’s lane and who was chuckling and was rather amused
when she heard that we were in ambassador lane and that the voice was
Byron. Ann hastened down to ambassador lane and we gave Byron the opportunity
to walk past all the camps. He never stopped chuckling and was in fact
so excited that he even made advances to Shaka, our male king cheetah.
The females sadly were not interested in him at all, and let this be
known by pulling their ears flat and voicing a few very deep throated
growls.
It was at this point that we decided to load Byron back into his vehicle
with much begging and pleading, and take him up to lover’s lane.
Although Byron is probably the most well travelled cheetah in the world,
he has never been driven around the farm and now – all of a sudden
– with his interest sparked, there were cheetah all over the place.
He chuckled all the way as we drove and could not believe that there
were so many girls on the farm. Once in lover’s lane we let him
out of his vehicle and it was like letting a child loose in a toy store
for the very first time. He ran this way and that, not believing his
luck and unable to choose from all the girls on display.
A particularly beautiful cheetah female named Crypto came to the fence
and presented herself as ready. Since Byron could not seem to decide
for himself, we decided to let him into Crypto’s enclosure, I
tried to warn him that this would not all be fun and that the moment
he had finished mating she would give him a hefty beating. He was way
too excited to heed my warning and blundered into this potentially dangerous
encounter with only one thing on his mind. Crypto being fully in cycle
presented herself to Byron – and my little boy – bless him
- not quite knowing what to do, mounted her. When mating the male grabs
hold of the female on the back of the neck to hold her in place. In
his eagerness, my Byron misjudged a little and grabbed her on the ear.
Without the correct hold, his aim was a little high, but he persevered
and when the moment came to release her and jump free from the onslaught
that was to come he was unsure of what to do. By this time she was lying
flat on her side and although you could see him thinking about what
to do next – he was too slow and she turned under him and lashed
out with a series of powerful slaps from her front feet. He jumped about
4 foot into the air to try and get away, but alas she had caught him
fully across the snout with one of her vicious blows. He stood back
indignantly sneezing and growling, completely perplexed at what had
just happened. For a full ten minutes he growled at her, jumping nervously
and running away from her every time she advanced.
She was quickly ready for the next mating and rolled around provocatively
in front of him, but as he approached, every time she moved, he would
jump back and growl in fear of the slap that might follow. After a little
while, he made his second attempt and this time he grabbed hold of her
as should be, on the back of the neck, and his aim was definitely better.
He still had not, however, worked out the art of escaping the beating
that was to follow. My heart bled for my little boy that was now a man,
as I watched him look back with total confusion at what had just transpired.
We left the honeymoon couple together for the night and the next morning,
as we drove past the camp, I called out to him “Hello my baby”,
he glanced over his shoulder as if to say “Mom!!! Not in front
of my girlfriend” He had learnt quickly and now chased her around
to keep her in her place.
The romance did not last too long and by the third day as we drove along
Lovers lane, there was Byron standing at the gate waiting for us to
bring him his food, all thoughts of the new girlfriend driven from his
mind by the sight of his favourite food bowl and a hearty breakfast.
Breeding
Females move to Shingwedzi
 No
doubt many of our readers will remember the story printed last year
about Roy and Dee, two very special cubs. This brother and sister were
badly injured after being carried around incessantly by their mother
and had to spend several weeks at the vet undergoing extensive treatment.
We are convinced that the main reason for this unusual behaviour is
the recent increases in activity, development and most predominantly
noise around the cheetah centre. Bearing in mind that cheetahs are highly
strung at the very best of times, pregnant and lactating females are
very sensitive to excess noise and activity, and become extremely stressed.
They then become overprotective and believing that their cubs are in
danger will constantly move them from place to place, often inadvertently
causing horrific injuries.
With this in mind the decision has been made to move some of this year’s
pregnant females up to our Shingwedzi Wildlife Ranch near Bela Bela.
In this way they can rear their cubs in large specially built enclosures
where they are guaranteed peaceful surroundings and minimum stress.
The first four females to make the move last week were Lisa, Naledi,
Shakira and Umbhobe. They travelled safely and have all settled into
their new environment very happily. Please know that in spite of their
new location they continue to be part of the De Wildt family and you
can receive updates on their progress anytime.
Scat sniffing
trip to Makule Makete
 During
the last week of May, the scat sniffing team headed north to Makulu
Makete to search for scat from the captive release cheetahs. Our main
scat man, Diesel, has had an apprentice called Duzi for a while and
the two of them are good buddies – and looked a bit like Laurel
and Hardy!! Duzi has just started getting the hang of sniffing, but
he has unfortunately been diagnosed with epilepsy and travelling seem
to bring on seizures. So this was poor Duzi’s last trip. We are
going to miss the little stick dog!
We did however have a very successful trip under difficult conditions.
It was still hot during the day and the grass is tall and in flower.
So Diesel had to work with his eyes closed most of the time and had
to ‘pronk’ around to see where he was going. It was very
frustrating and itchy for all of us, but we persevered and a brave sneezy
Diesel found two scats. We also found a big black mamba snake, so we
also had to keep our eyes open for them in the long grass.
We always work exceptionally hard on these trips, but it is great to
be out in the bush and working with the dogs. The dogs love it too,
but at the end of the trip they are a tired as we are.
 De
Wildt/Cheetah Outreach Anatolian Livestock Guarding Dog Partnership
Another 5 Anatolian puppies were recently placed on livestock ranches
in Limpopo by Deon Cilliers. These puppies were bred at Cheetah Outreach
who runs a succesfull Anatolian Livestock Guarding Project aimed at
supplying livestock owners in cheetah range in South Africa with Anatolians
to protect the livestock against cheetahs and other predators.
During this trip 6 of the previous placements were visited as well and
ranchers were given the opportunity to raise issues regarding the training
etc of the previous placements. It was good to see that not one of the
ranchers had any serious concerns and were extremely happy with the
progress of the previous placement.
IAMS sponsor the Eukanuba dog food for this project and a total of 38
bags of Eukanuba was delivered to 18 dogs in the Alldays/Lephalale area
of Limpopo. Frontline and PReventic collars were also supplied to the
owners of the 18 Anatolians. A total of 1965 km's were travelled during
this trip. The fuel and vehicle is sponsored by Sasol/Chevron as part
of a long term fuel trial.
Another 5 Anatolian puppies will be placed at the end of May in the
Thabazimbi area of Limpopo.
Silent
Valley Research Project
 Thanks
to Catlife Funding we are now able to establish a research base in Thabazimbi
with full time field workers to continue and expand on our cheetah research
in this farmland and national reserve area. Thabazimbi is in the Limpopo
Province of South Africa and is home to a number of free roaming cheetah.
Our research work includes cheetah density surveys which are achieved
through questionnaire surveys, collar and release and spoor tracking.
During April Field workers Kelly and Grant completed eight questionnaires
and spent most of the month revisiting farms where farmers had reported
recent cheetah activity. While driving around they spent time looking
for trees or other objects used as marking posts as well as searching
for large open areas or old agricultural lands often frequented by cheetah.
They were looking for any areas that could be used as cage trapping
sites. Camera traps were also set up on two of these farms. Five farms
have been identified as cage trapping sites and 15 farms for camera
trapping sites. Unfortunately although they have seen a fair amount
of ‘perfect’ cheetah marking posts, they have yet to find
one with actual scat on it! The marking posts recorded and used by Kelly
Marnewick who did her Masters thesis in the area some years back have
all been checked and none are being used by cheetah at the moment. Interesting
pictures on the camera traps have been captured but as of yet still
no cheetah! There have been reports from a few farmers who have seen
cheetah in the past month. So hopefully our luck will change soon!
We will keep you posted on this exciting project.
South African
Cheetah PHVA Workshop
 The
De Wildt Wild Cheetah Program was well represented on the Cheetah PHVA
Workshop which was recently held at the Venetia Mine Reserve in Limpopo.
The PHVA looked at the various factors affecting the survival of cheetah
in SA in the free ranging as well as the Meta-Population Reserves and
various modelling exercises were done to model the level of possible
extinction using different scenarios.
Kelly Marnewick, our researcher actively took part in the group that
focussed on the free ranging population of cheetahs which occur outside
of protected areas and she and her group came up with various actions
and tasks that have to be done to prevent this cheetah population in
South Africa to go exstinct.
Deon Cilliers, our conservation manager focussed his attention to the
metapopulation reserves in SA. MOst cheetahs on these reserves were
relocated by the De Wildt Wild Cheetah Program and strategies needed
to be developed to safe-guard this isolated and fragmented population
of cheetahs in SA as a back-up for the wild free ranging cheetahs.
The input of the De Wildt Wild Cheetah Program was key to the PHVA process,
and a further worshop will be held in South Africa during June 2009
to develop a National Cheetah Conservation Action Plan which will be
used by NGO's and Government in South Africa to conserve and manage
the cheetahs within South Africa.
The Truckman
& De Wildt Charity Karting Day
Clare Vale and Mackie Adlem (WesBank V8 Supercar racing drivers) hosted
a charity karting day in aid of De Wildt Cheetah & Wildlife Trust
on Sunday, March 1st at Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria.
A"celebrity" team
participated and included Egoli star, David Rees and Afrikaans music
star, Pieter Koen, Wynter Murdoch, a legendary motoring journalist and
Gert van Niekerk, one of Egoli’s directors.
There was also a Gatorback
Ram Soccer Star Team; the players that participated were Brian Baloyi
(ex-Bafana Bafana and Sundowns), Teko Modise (Bafana Bafana and Orlando
Pirates), Siphiwe Tshabalala (Bafana Bafana and Kaiser Chiefs), David
Mathebula (Kaiser Chiefs), Itumeleng Khune (Bafana Bafana and Kaiser
Chiefs) and Josta Dlala (Kaiser Chiefs). Byron, De Wildt's ambassador
cheetah, was on hand to present the prizes.
De Wildt also had a team
participating, which was a great reward for our hard working and committed
staff members. It also created enthusiasm and excitement about the Trust's
involvement with motorsport.
The winning team on the day
received the unique opportunity of being taken as a passenger around
Zwartkops by Clare Vale in her Mustang V8 Supercar. The corporates and
teams involved were as follows; WesBank, Gatorback Ram, Renault, Team
Commziq, Adlem Auto, MF Auto, BESA and Timken. A big thank you to everyone
for their tremendous support.
Introducing
Girlie
 The
De Wildt office has a new mascot! Her name is Girlie and she was recently
rescued from the roadside looking terribly bedraggled and very sorry
for herself. A short stint with a dedicated vet led to a full recovery
and she is now bursting with energy and mischief.
Of course we have all completely fallen in love with this gorgeous new
addition to the family of De Wildt waifs and strays. Girlie is spoilt
rotten and is now the self proclaimed queen of the office. She has even
been known to climb onto Marilyn’s desk and attempt some typing
by walking up and down the computer keyboard. Her typing speed is excellent
but sadly her spelling is just atrocious so we won’t be asking
her to do the next newsletter!
Every morning at breakfast she runs round to each staff member for a
stroke, hoping to be fed the odd titbit. Her very favourite person is
Amos and she invariably ends up settling onto his lap for the remainder
of the meal.
Wish List
We have a number
of items on our wish list for the Wild Cheetah Project and these include
the following items.
If you are able to help please contact Vanessa on vanessab@dewildt.org.za
or 082 555 6075
For Silent Valley house:
Microwave
Chest freezer
Generator
Memory card reader for camera traps
External hard drive
C and D-cell batteries – lots
New digital camera
Large dog crate / sky kennel (for keeping scat sniffing dog in for transport,
safe place on field trips)
Stationery – anything from paper to files, staplers – whatever
you are not using.
Cheetahs
and Computers
What does ambassador
Byron and computers have in common you may ask? Thanks
to an initiative facilitated by the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust
the Bachana Mokwena School in Ga Rankuwa were the fortunate recipients
of computers and printers from Wheels Underwriting Managers. Headmaster
of the School Sentsho Rapoo said that he felt very honoured and motivated
to have sponsors like Wheels Underwriters who have added value and enhanced
the teaching and learning experience in their school. He said further
that the partnership with the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust's
Education Outreach Programme had brought many new things to the school
– from a feeding kitchen to a computer centre.
The philosophy behind the
Outreach Education Departments initiatives is that unless you embrace
the needs of a community you stand little chance of saving our environment.
By understanding what teachers and learners have to deal with on a daily
basis and by responding to these needs by partnering with organisations
like Wheels the conservation message is reinforced. Children begin to
see the cheetah as bringing opportunity to their communities and indirectly
the value of protecting them is enhanced.
Thank you Wheels for your
substantial support of our programme.
 Wild
cheetah Bubbles adopted
A big thank you to Lisa Wright of Veyance Technologies for adopting
one of our wild cheetahs. These cheetah are often relocated from situations
where they face possible death through snaring or trapping and are relocated
to 'safe' areas where they are given the chance to live a natural life.
Roy Marcus, Chairman of the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust presented
Lisa with her adoption certificate. Anyone interested in adopting a
wild cheetah, or sponsoring a collar for monitoring the released cat
can contact Vanessa at vanessab@dewildt.org.za
Lodge Snippets
Warm greetings
from the De Wildt Cheetah Lodge.
All is well at the lodge and we are once again looking forward to welcoming
guests from South Africa and from all corners of the globe.
It is that time of year again when the king proteas are showing off
their magnificent flowers in all different stages from closed buds to
full blooms. Other flowering Cape bushes are close behind, bursting
with delicate blooms in shades of pink and lilac.
We will be running accommodation specials for the winter which can be
viewed by visiting the website www.dewildt.org.za Please do not hesitate
to contact us to enjoy a much needed break from the city and to enjoy
country life at its best.
We would also like to say goodbye to Petro who ran an extremely efficient
office here at the lodge and has moved on to join the ranks of the De
Wildt Cheetah Centre’s main office. We welcome Anne-Marie Coetzee
who will be taking her place.
A friendly tail wag to all from Sebastian.
 Penelope's
Party
One of De Wildt's
regular supporters Penelope Gracie recently turned 60 and instead of
gifts for her birthday she asked her friends to donate money to our
Wild Cheetah Research Project which is based in the Silent Valley area
of the Limpopo Province. Over R12 000 was raised. We would like to thank
Penelope and her friends for this generous contribution.
From the
Adoptions Desk
Warm greetings
to all of our adoptive parents and we would like to take this opportunity
to wish all our “Moms” a very happy mother’s day for
Sunday 10th May.
I am very pleased and excited to report that we have had an overwhelming
response to the 2009 adoptions open day. Consequently we are fully booked
for the 23rd of May but do not despair as we have set aside a second
morning on Saturday 20th June for any parents who would still like to
visit their wild children. If you are interested in joining us please
contact Louise on (012) 504 1921 as soon as possible as places are quite
limited.
New Parents
Diamond Level
Bettina Moehr, Group for Animal and Environmental Awareness, Hayley
Botha, Cobus Kilian, Paul, Brenda & Jason Bosman
Platinum Level
Bettina Moehr x2, Rudi Oudmayer, Frankie Spagnolo, Lotta Doffs, Julie
Kenney, Moira Shepherd
Gold Level
Janeen Robbins, Susanne & Alex, Beatrix & Annabel Müller,
Jeanette Covington, Karen Green, Simone Nybo Jantzen, Claudia &
Jochen Delaye, Dawn van den Heever, Sandrine Marie Andre, Avis Rent-a-Car
Managers Team, Sustainable Environmental Solutions, Julian & Yolande
van Dyk, Juli O’Connell, HR Indaba 2009 (Mike & Beverley Moll),
Reinhold Just & Family, Bridgette Uys, Richard Walker, In Memory
of the late Leslie Hinsley Williamson, Justin & Michelle Leegsma,
Dr Johan & Sylvia de Jager, Erin Chipps, Aidan Chipps, Jenny Jackson,
Kathryn Jackson, Sophie Kedrowski, Pieter & Daleen Henning
Silver Level
Derrick Behm x2, Claire Lemaire-Smith, Kieran Holmes, Staff & Pupils
of Blyth Community College, Cinzia & Claudio Warrens, Matt &
Madden Geortz, Inge og Hans Henrik Laursen, Joerg Hummelt, Zach &
Nate Robbins, Juanita & Jan Vermaak, Amelia Raath, Kyle Ludi-Pagan,
Stephanie Ludi-Pagan, Jarryd Kennedy,Chad Kennedy, Inger Strömberg,
Edward Gåverud, Svea Gåverud, Lisa Hauer & Ruben Robles,
Farah Wally, Nicky, Tony & Maya in Memory of Tao, Jessica &
Ross McCormack, Jessica Thompson, East Rand Junior Rangers, Carina van
der Merwe, Ben Moody, Molly Clark, Mrs Anne Mcmanus, Annette Roos, Kyle
Russell, Pierre & Flossie Cronje, Simoné Thomson, Theresa
Thomson, Liam Mills, Richard Walker, Bianca Jade Gomes, Heliette Neveu-Fournier,
Arnaud Garcia-Fernandez, Joseph Steele, Veerle Debeurme, Thibault Huybrechts,
Lieve De Vos, Margaret Fauchier, Caitlyn & Murray Davies, Ryan &
Katie Davies, Megan & Michael Davies, Tanisha Morgan Dens’e,
Jordyn Morgan Dens’e, Ilzett Thomson, Thomas & Anja Benfeldt,
Drudi Bratlien, Ophelia Lind, Julianne Erskine
Renewals
Diamond Level
In Memory of Philip John Myson, Evelyn Gantert, Sarah & Jules, Nicolette
Ramshaw, Ken & Maureen Cram
Platinum
Thane Duff, Thia & Pieter van der Westhuizen x2, Evelyn Gantert
x3, Frans Kruger, Suzie Ryzner, Laura & Mortimer Hill, Steve &
Tracy Broadbent
Gold
Peta Phillips, Dianne Fuller, Angeline Mocké, Chloe Ghent, Elinor
Bradshaw, Helen Dyball, Susann Moderalli, Xanthe van Zyl, Elizabeth
Hides x2, Raelene Robertson, Liz & Dave Ingram, Giorgio Cocomello,
Jürgen Beyer, Joachim Fischer
Silver
Claire Lemaire-Smith, Bryan & Eloïse Pietersma, Heather Ashdown,
Jeannine & Roland Beaufort, Angie & Alasdair, Mrs Eleanor Wallace
in Memory of the Late Mr Raymond Wallace
Should you wish to be on
our newsletter list please contact us:
vanessab@dewildt.org.za
We'd love to hear from you!!
|
