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Wildt Tales, March 2007 2007 is upon and so much has already happened. Apologies for the lateness of this newsletter. The heat is brutal at the moment – we are praying for rain. Mission
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Relocation of two Captive Born Leopards
The two females, Steffi and Caroline, were collected from the farm in Limpopo after Dr Peter Caldwell, consulting veterinarian of De Wildt, darted them in the one hectare camp in which they lived. This proved to be a challenge of its own as the camp was very densely vegetated and both leopards had to be darted before the De Wildt team could safely enter the enclosure. Deon Cilliers delivered leopards to the holding camps at Hlambanyati Game Reserve. Caroline was placed into a one hectare boma while Steffi was introduced into a 10 hectare camp. Reports back from Hlambanyati indicate that Caroline, although only in the smaller one hectare camp has remained secretive and very wild. Steffi on the other hand has become very relaxed in the 10 hectare boma and has even successfully hunted warthogs and also a porcupine which lived inside this camp. She is seen daily by researchers and shows potential as an excellent leopard from an eco-tourism point of view, as she is not shy of vehicles. This project will be watched with great interest. Its success might have the effect that such captive born leopards could in future be relocated back into areas from which they have previously been eradicated. The photograph shows Steffi being released. Betty’s First Step
Introduction to Jaws
Anatolian Heroes Our Anatolian Shepherd Dogs have continued to do us proud with two recent incidents reported back to us.
Boleyn is also looking after goats in the Thabazimbi area. She is an incredibly brave girl and recently even chased a hippo away from the kraal. A short time ago, she went missing for twenty four hours along with a pregnant nanny goat. Needless to say the farmer was very relieved when she reappeared the following morning proudly leading the mother goat and her newborn baby! The goat had gone into labour in the bush and Boleyn had stood guard over her throughout the night! Teacher workshop
Additionally, the teacher who comes up with the best idea about how to use and implement the teacher’s resource in class will be awarded the very special prize of a trip to either the UK or the US. The winner will be announced at our gala dinner at the end of the year. Joyce Ditabo, an educator at the Polonia Primary School wrote a very thoughtful poem: Cheetah It really is, and that is why these workshops and all other activities at the centre are so vital. B.O.B- The Bundle Of Bird
Our Young Supporters
It is impossible to mention all our young parents and supporters by name but we would like to thank each and every one of them. You are all amazing and you should be so proud of yourselves! We must however, mention some of the youngsters who have really gone above and beyond the necessary. We have several long term parents who are quite literally “growing up” alongside their animals. Corey Byrne in Australia has been sponsoring Modumo since 2001. Stephanie Germaine from Canada has been mother to Pula since 2002. Storm Taylor-Evans first adopted Shaka two years ago and she has just renewed that adoption for a further two years. Tighe Maxwell-Whitely has also recently renewed his adoption and will be coming over from the UK to visit Sukela later this year. Other children have been fundraising at school and in their community. Melissa Jordaan has been running a dedicated and enthusiastic campaign at the International School in Hamburg. The Randpark Ridge Cub Pack raised funds for a Diamond level adoption of Jubalala, and enjoyed a special tour of the centre in February. Jarryd James and Christopher Clatworthy turned a school project into reality when they raised R500 for the centre and consequently were able to adopt brothers Moetapele and Mosemane. Many sacrifices have also been made in the name of wildlife preservation. For the past two years, Ulrich Wagner has donated all his Christmas and birthday money towards his cheetah adoption. So many of our sponsors have given up pocket money, sweets and treats in order to make a difference. It is such a joy to observe children getting involved in conservation in such a proactive manner. Much credit must go to our education team – they are really getting the message across! And thank you kids…for listening! DID YOU KNOW? The Lappet Faced Vulture • Although these birds look very fierce
they are remarkably gentle. Wonderful parents – they regurgitate
food for their chicks. From the Adoptions
Desk… Welcome to our new adoptive parents as well as parents who have renewed again. Thank you! Diamond Level New Students This year we have been fortunate enough to be joined by new students Rezelle Kleynsmith and Dorette Pretorius. Both girls are completing their diplomas in Nature Conservation and will spend the year here at De Wildt gaining valuable “hands on” experience. Rezelle is from Pretoria. Her childhood ambition was to be President of South Africa but that veered towards conservation at around the age of five. She particularly wanted to work for De Wildt. Dorette is from Ermelo in Mpumalanga. She is a great animal lover and takes the most beautiful photographs. Her future plans are to get her degree in Nature Conservation with emphasis on wildlife diseases. They have settled into the routine of the centre very comfortably and we would like to take this opportunity to officially welcome them to the De Wildt team. Should you wish to be on
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The
De Wildt Wild Cheetah Project recently moved two captive born leopards
from a private game farm in the Limpopo Province to a private reserve
in Zululand, Kwazulu Natal. These two females were born in captivity
but were never habituated to humans and therefore remained very wild. Different
perceptions regarding the success and value of the rewilding of leopards
exist between leopard researchers and conservationists. The De Wildt
Wild Cheetah Project established a partnership with the Hlambanyati
Game Reserve in Kwazulu Natal to prove the success or failure of this
issue by approaching and assessing this rewilding on a scientific basis.
Charl Senekal of the Hlambanyati Game Reserve will be writing up the
results of this rehabilitation as part of a Masters Degree.
Betty-Blue,
our three and a half legged cheetah, whose story was told in our previous
newsletter received a visit from De Wet Heyns of Golding’s Orthopaedic
Centre, our new prosthetics consultant on the 5th of February 2007 to
see if he could help her. She was sedated by her saviour, Dr Peter Caldwell
and taken to our hospital for foot measurements. De Wet made a plaster
of paris cast of Betty’s stump and measured her other leg for
comparison. She was fully examined by Peter who might have said that
she might have been a little on the chubby side and might have to go
on a little diet but was otherwise completely healthy! Peter reversed
her anesthetic and Betty (a little grumpy) woke up well. De Wet came
back just three days later with a Poly-Synthetic prosthetic foot- (say
that 5 times fast!) which unfortunately needs a few finishing touches
before it can be used. We have great faith that De Wet will come back
soon with the final product… Makes me start humming The Final
Countdown… Sometimes out loud. 
We
thought it was time to introduce Jaws, our toothless cheetah. Well,
he’s not completely toothless but you will understand everything
after this article. Jaws, a.k.a WCM033 was a yearling brought in to
De Wildt on the 4th of April 2004 in a pitiful state, indeed. His jaw
had been broken in three places before Dr Peter Caldwell and Dr Camby
got hold of him and he had snare wounds on both of his hind legs. Dr
Camby put pins and plates in his bottom jaw to put them back together
and Jaws was placed on a course of antibiotics. Jaws was taken back
to Dr Camby on the 23rd of July 2004 to have the pins and plates removed
as the jaw seemed to have healed very well. Unfortunately, this was
not the end for Jaws. An abscess had formed on each side of his jaw
and he was treated for the pain and infection. After getting over that,
Peter examined his progress on the 17th of March 2005 and found some
trouble with all four canines. Jaws was referred to Dr Steenkamp for
root canal and tooth repair on the 22nd of April 2005. Unfortunately,
all four canine teeth were beyond repair and had to be removed. This
was very upsetting for everyone at De Wildt because we were looking
forward to seeing Jaws released. Obviously we would be unable to do
that now because he would have been incapable of hunting on his own.
He receives a bowl of food now instead of a piece of meat and is quite
a grumpy cat - we found out later why this is so. Jaws was caught in
a snare and when the “cruel and misguided individual” found
him, he released him and chased him with his vehicle to “see how
fast he could get this yearling off his farm”. Unfortunately,
Jaws was not quite fast enough. He was run over and that is how his
jaw was broken. As we look at the cruelty man can dish out, we must
also look at the good people in this world who are willing to save these
amazing cheetahs.
Beska
is in charge of a herd of goats on a farm just outside Lephalale. He
came back to the kraal one night recently in a very sorry state, with
wounds and cuts all over his neck. The injuries seemed consistent with
a dog attack but he must have seen the culprits off as the farmer lost
no stock. We are pleased to report that after treatment with antibiotics,
Betadine and reconstructive cream for the wounds, Beska is making a
good recovery. He is rather anxious to get back to his herd though and
howls pitifully every time he sees them from his enclosure.
On
Saturday the 17th of February, the first of many ‘cluster’
workshops was organised at the centre. This is where educators get together
for intensive training of how to use the teacher’s resources developed
in association with Cheetah Outreach in the Cape. More workshops are
to be arranged in the near future. It was a day full of learning, sharing
ideas, laughter and poetry. The teachers were asked to write a poem
about the cheetah and their poetic skills were put to the test. 
Bob,
the 2 day old Guinea fowl was found on De Wildt on the 30th of January
2007 all alone, looking for his brother and sisters. Well, we couldn’t
just leave him there - he would have died, so Alistair, our very helpful
volunteer picked him up and passed him to me. (Just to inform everyone
that the minute a bird is passed to me it usually has less than twenty
four hours to live. Don’t ask why, that is just my luck with them.)
Bob however, proved to be the exception.
He was placed in my breast pocket to warm up for about an hour while
I found him a suitable box. I am guessing he is a male because he survived
the breast pocket ordeal and has made it to his present 26th day. Bob
spends his days terrorizing my two cats, irritating Alan in the office,
climbing up women’s pants and catching flies. He has just learnt
the purpose of his new wings which has led to extensive renovations
on his box. You know you are meant to work with animals when you build
a Guinea fowl chick a mansion out of cardboard! Anyway,
Bob will be taken care of until he can take care of himself. Then he
might want to pick on someone his own size. If he does not, his mom
will be a short walk away in the office.
This
beautiful photograph and message from Calista Fyfe in the USA really
symbolises the enthusiasm and interest that our program elicits from
children, not only in South Africa but all around the world.
Copyright
© De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust, 2005