A task team was recently established to locate free-ranging cheetahs in the Northern Cape after more and more sightings in this province.
Deon Cilliers from the organization Cheetah Outreach Trust told RNews that a few free-ranging cheetahs have recently been spotted in and around the Namakwa National Park near Springbok and Kamieskroon.
“There is definitely a female with two hatched cubs in this area. We suspect a male too. They are seen now and then in the farm areas around the national park,” says Cilliers.
“These cheetahs have not been resettled in the national park, they most likely came from Namibia. The nearest free-ranging cheetah population is in that Namaqualand area.”
According to Cilliers, they have now established a cheetah task team in collaboration with various role players to locate, capture and move cheetahs in this area to places where they will not be in “conflict with the farmers”.
“We only request that the farmers do not panic and report all sightings of cheetahs, so that they can be investigated and we can make sure that they are indeed cheetahs and not other predators such as leopards or even wild dogs.
“There are experts in that area who can go out and identify the tracks. It is very important that the farmers do not panic. There is a set system and we are doing everything in our power to find out where the cheetahs are moving so that they can be moved.”
Little known about numbers of free-ranging cheetahs
The Cheetah Outreach Trust is also currently engaged in a census survey project on free-ranging cheetahs (FRCCP) in collaboration with the Asia Cheetah Conservation (ACC).
The aim of the project is to achieve better communication about these cheetahs between landowners and conservationists, as well as to get a clearer picture of how many free-ranging cheetahs there are outside reserves in South Africa.
Several PhD students at the University of Stellenbosch and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands also provide support for the project, among other things through questionnaire surveys and ground surveys consisting of track and photo evidence. This is collected through the camera traps, among other things.
However, Cilliers says very little is still known about how many of these cheetahs there are in the northern parts of the country, or how far they are able to walk.
Cheetahs are also increasingly threatened, among other things by a loss of habitat and illegal trade.
“The cooperation of the farming communities in areas where free-ranging cheetahs still occur is essential for the success of FRCCP.”
Surveys can be completed online.
