PCT Grants: March 2007 December 2008
Project Updates: August 2007 July 2008 November 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009
Along with Namibia, Botswana has one of the last free-ranging populations of
cheetah in the world making it an essential stronghold for the future of the
species.
Cheetah Conservation Botswana has been set up as a long term monitoring project,
incorporating practical conservation, scientific research and community
participation. It is the first project to research cheetah in Botswana and is
gathering data on home ranges, behaviour, their role in livestock conflicts,
genetics and diseases at their research camp in the southern Kalahari. This
information is vital to understand the status of Botswana’s cheetah and the
factors affecting their survival.
The project team have set up a research camp in Jwaneng, Southern Kalahari, a
20,000 hectare wildlife reserve. They are studying the resident population of
cheetah in the area using telemetry, spoor surveying and direct observation. As
well as working with the local community in the surrounding area, they are
assisting them with farm management practices that will enable them to coexist
with predators with the minimum of conflict.
As in Namibia, protected areas such as National Parks cannot be relied upon to
conserve the species as cheetahs are often out-competed by high populations of
stronger predators and pushed onto marginal land where they come into conflict
with livestock farmers.
One of the project’s focuses is reducing cheetah / livestock conflict and
improving the attitudes of the farming community and their methods of predator
control. Survival of the cheetah depends on the attitudes of these farming
communities.
Education is an essential and important aspect of the project. Visits are made
to all types of farming situations and support given to those experiencing
problems. Schools are also visited to give presentations on the importance of
predators in healthy ecosystems. Rural communities and predators can coexist if
adequate methods are used to decrease conflict, such as better monitoring,
effective corralling, using well trained guard animals and a good understanding
of predator behaviours.
As a last resort the project team will relocate ‘problem’ cheetah off farmland
where they are threatened, into safer areas, where they can be monitored.
However, coexistence is the ultimate aim, working together with the rural
farming communities to ensure Botswana remains one of the best hopes for the
survival of this unique, endangered cat.
A viable population of cheetah requires a suitable prey base and habitat.
Therefore, as a flagship species, protection of the cheetah and awareness
raising goes hand in hand with protecting the ecosystem on which they depend.
The Trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust are delighted to help support the Cheetah Conservation Botswana project by making a grant of £1000 towards the annual costs of vehicle parts, maintenance, tyres and fuel. A project like Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) can not operate successfully without working vehicles to enable them to visit schools for educational visits, track cheetah, relocate problem animals, or liaise with the farming community.
In late November, the Trustees of The Predator Conservation Trust, approved a grant to Cheetah Conservation Botswana for £1000. The grant is for the purchase of fuel over the coming months. Fuel for vehicles is essential for an organisation like Cheetah Conservation Botswana to carry out its work, and the recent price rises for fuel make this grant even more vital.
CCB EDUCATION BOOK PUBLISHED
Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) are delighted to announce the publication of
their book, CHEETAH: A Predator
Resource for the Students of Botswana, the first such publication to be
developed by CCB.
Designed for use by students of Secondary Level, its five chapters introduce
cheetah history, biology and behaviour and discuss the status of the species,
while also introducing measures available to farmers to reduce conflict with
predators. Placing the cheetah in context, the publication also introduces the
other carnivores common to Botswana. Its 74 pages are richly illustrated in
colour and feature an activity section at the end of each chapter. While
strengthening pupils' knowledge about the cheetah and other predators, the
activities also exercise student abilities in subjects such as English,
mathematics and geography.
CCB plans to distribute copies nationwide, in stages - as funding for reprinting
hopefully become available to us over the forthcoming years. Initially,
twenty-five schools will each receive forty copies of the book, accompanied by
the new CCB CD-ROM.
The education book can be downloaded here in PDF format - CHEETAH: A Predator Resource for the Students of Botswana
Leopard Rehabilitation
Botshelo the young leopard who was confiscated by the Department of Wildlife & National Parks (DWNP) in October 2006 and placed in the CCB rehabilitation programme has been released into the wild. Botshelo has grown into a strong adult leopard exhibiting effective hunting skills and is making us all very proud. She was anaesthetised and collared in Jwaneng in a joint effort by the CCB team and the DWNP, with the assistance of Dr Mark Bing in April, and transported to her release point in the southern part of the country. The location of release was carefully considered taking into account, type of habitat, closeness of game management areas and minimal farm land to reduce possibilities of conflict and mortality. On the 7th April 2008, Botshelo, was fitted with a GPS collar and released with the assistance and support of the Department of Wildlife & National Parks. The cat was transported from Jwaneng into the southern Kalahari Wildlife Management Area of Botswana, after being fitted with the GPS collar.
The information that CCB has so far been able to obtain from the collar has indicated that the leopard, released well away from human settlements and farming areas, has been hunting successfully for over two months and is staying within a 23 x 15km area. Walking approximately 1-4km per day, the cat appears to be staying in a relatively small area for 2-3 days at a time ý which may indicate her success in making large kills and returning to a carcass for a few days afterwards before moving on.
If this leopard can survive long term, during which she may encounter other leopards, lions, hyenas and man, then she will also have every chance of breeding. So far, this rehabilitation process has shown that it is possible to successfully raise a young leopard for re-release, to hunt successfully, survive and not live to take livestock or seek out human settlements.
Orapa Teacher Training Workshop 15-18 May
Another in our programme of Teacher Training Workshops took place in Orapa, between the 15th and 18th of May and with the invaluable support once more of Debswana. The event, staged by CCB Education Coordinator Wabotlhe Letubo and assisted by our Community Conservation Officer, Morulaganyi Kokole, was attended by fifty teachers from local schools and the Education Centre of the Debswana Mine served as the venue. Both the General Manager and the Conservation Manager of the mine were especially enthusiastic about the event and are keen to continue the new collaboration with CCB.
Coinciding with the workshop was the construction of a predator playground at the Orapa site. The cheetah park has now been handed over to the mine for completion and when finished, a formal opening, as well as follow-up visits to local schools in the area will take place ý currently scheduled for August.
Ghanzi Show.
CCB attended the annual Ghanzi Agricultural Show at the end of June. The event attracted farmers from the local community as well as those from across the country. The CCB stand attracted particular attention of course, and a great deal of interest in and support for our programmes.
Misidentification of cheetahs and leopards and confusion surrounding the two has been a problem in some rural communities. In conjunction with our "Spot the Difference" campaign particular emphasis was placed upon providing education support and materials to visitors at the show, to help them correctly identify predators in their own local areas. CCB was also approached by many farmers and farm workers at the show, who wanted to learn more about predator friendly farming and to share their own experiences with CCB. We look forward to building on these contacts in the near future.
The Predator Conservation Trust are now the official UK partners of Cheetah Conservation Botswana for the purposes of handling donations. Previously Cheetah Conservation Botswana had alternative arrangements for receiving donations in the UK but these were less than ideal due to the costs. Predator Conservation Trust have agreed to handle all UK donations for Cheetah Conservation Botswana, free of charge which will help increase the amount of money reaching Cheetah Conservation Botswana. The trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust are pleased to be able to help support Cheetah Conservation Botswana in this way.
Information on how to donate - either for Cheetah Conservation Botswana in particular, or our supported projects in general, can be found on our Donate page.
The research department has recently been focusing upon the construction and completion of the new camp in Ghanzi. Work commenced in July on land owned by the People and Nature Trust, an NGO that offers life skills training, environmental and agricultural education to young orphans from across Botswana. The camp includes accommodation for six people, an office, veterinary clinic and cheetah holding enclosure. In the future CCB hopes to host teacher training workshops, farmer workshops, a livestock guarding dog demonstration site and education and research programmes at the site. In addition, monitoring of the cheetah populations around Jwaneng and Ghanzi has continued.
‘Kealeboga’, the cheetah caught across the border in South Africa is alive and well and has been moving in and out of Botswana. Unfortunately, collar malfunctions have been hindering data collection, but we hope to correct the situation in the New Year.
‘Botshelo’, the orphaned leopard cub rehabilitated and released in April 2008, continues to thrive. Before release she had been entering ‘heat’ and had attracted the attentions of a male leopard in Jwaneng. There is now a possibility that since settling into her new territory in a Wildlife Management Area, her path may have crossed the path of a local male so she may now have cubs of her own.
In July 2008, the Department of Wildlife & National Parks brought into our temporary custody nine African wild dog puppies. Rescued by a farmer in Ghanzi, the puppies were thought to be about nine weeks old. They were kept at our Ghanzi research base for about three weeks until long term facilities for their rehabilitation could be found. They moved to Mokolodi Nature Reserve for disease testing before being transported to a new home at the Limpopo-Limpadi Game Reserve. The latest news is that the young dogs continue to thrive and have settled in to their new home.
In August, Jwaneng became the new operating base for Wabotlhe’s Community Education Programme. This has enabled her to be closer to communities directly affected by conflict with local predators. Future plans include a new predator playground in the park at Jwaneng and the development of the further development of the education centre, as well as the possible construction of model kraals, to aid the local farmers who need to construct their kraals. Since the last newsletter, school visits have continued as have our successful programme of Teacher Training Workshops. Wabotlhe has been conducting follow-up visits to schools surrounding Tsabong, after the Teacher Training workshop held there earlier this year.
Building upon the success of our livestock guarding dog competitions, CCB recently conducted the first in a proposed series of Community Veterinary Clinics as part of its developing Livestock Guarding Dog Programme.
During the last week of January, CCB teamed up with Maun Animal Welfare Society (MAWS) to stage a veterinary clinic for owners of domestic dogs in the Ghanzi District. Visiting Grootlagtle, Qabo, Kuke, as well as Ghanzi itself (which all border wildlife management areas), the objective was to trial and assess the potential for providing such mobile veterinary clinics for owners of guarding and herding dogs, as well as to other domestic dogs living within dispersed rural communities. By extending this opportunity to all dog owners CCB hopes that these clinics will also help to control canine diseases, which can not only be passed to the more valuable guard dogs, but potentially into species such as the vulnerable African Wild Dog.
Over 200 dogs were examined during the Ghanzi District clinics, some owners bringing their animals a considerable distance to attend. Most dogs received vaccinations and treatments to control worms and a total of 24 animals were also sterilized. The response by communities to the clinics, conducted in extremely basic circumstances, was very positive and they of course became a great way to further promote the use of livestock guarding dogs. We hope, as resources allow, to be able to stage more of these clinics as a valuable component of our guard dog and community outreach programmes.
During March CCB became the custodian of two potentially orphaned cheetah cubs. Working closely with the Department of Wildlife & National Parks (DWNP), as well as with members of the communities at Sekhutlane and Dithopo Ranch, CCB has now recovered the cubs to our facility in Ghanzi.
The cubs were part of a family group of a mother and three offspring which became separated when the mother was seen pursuing goats adjacent to the village of Sekhutlane, in the Southern District. Though two cubs were caught by members of the local community, they were not killed and the DWNP were able to recover them to a holding facility at Dithopo Ranch in the Kweneng District. Soon after the cubs were captured CCB became involved and traps were set in the area where the family group had been spending time, in an effort to capture the mother and remaining cub so as to reunite the family group.
In the meantime CCB has been permitted to care for the cubs and on Tuesday 24th March, following a thorough physical examination, they were transported to our facility in Ghanzi. The cubs are approximately 6 months old and are receiving treatment for infections to which they appear to be responding. Firmer plans about their future will follow in the coming weeks.
We previously reported on two orphaned cheetah cubs that had entered the Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) rehabilitation programme. The two cubs named Tlotlo (‘respect’) and Kgotso (‘peace’) came to CCB when they were 6 months old. The cubs had been caught by a farmer in Southern Botswana, efforts were made to locate their mother, but unfortunately failed. The cubs moved to the CCB Ghanzi camp in March 2009 and have grown considerably and are doing well. When first arriving at CCB Kgotla was under weight and was suffering from a respiratory infection. He has since recovered and is now the more boisterous and aggressive of the cubs.
The cubs are being raised with minimum contact with humans in order to prepare them for life in the wild. They remain aggressive at feeding times and will soon begin the process of learning to hunt. We hope to release the cubs when they are approximately 18 months old, the same age at which they would leave their mother in the wild.
The cubs have also made a big impression on the people from the village where they were caught. CCB has been invited to hold an educational workshop for the community and our education and community officers will be visiting the village later this month.
In April 2008 Cheetah Conservation Botswana released a leopard cub named ‘Botshelo’ meaning life, back into the wild. The cub has been confiscated from a farmer by the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) and placed in the care of CCB in October 2006 when she was approximately 3 months old. She was kept isolated from human contact and soon developed into a young, playful leopard. At 18 months old she was fitted with a satellite collar donated by SPOTS and released into the wild. Now over one year later, the leopard is continuing to do well. Through her satellite collar information regarding movements and habitat use has been collected, adding to the knowledge of leopard ecology and the success of rehabilitation techniques. The leopard currently occupies a home range of over 550 km2 and has caused no known damage or threat to livestock. The leopard will continue to be monitored until September when her collar will automatically drop off and be retrieved by CCB.
Victor the adult male cheetah rescued during an anti-poaching operation in southern Botswana, by authorities, is free. Four months later, data from his collar shows he remains alive and well. He appears to be avoiding farming areas, and according to the latest GPS position, is moving north from where he was released in the Kalahari Transfrontier Park (KTP) to a Wildlife Management area south of the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve. The two defendants in Victor's case pleaded guilty and have been prosecuted. The successful prosecution of poaching activities is huge investment in time, money and collaboration between stakeholders.
Victor was one of the few lucky ones, illegal trade and other threats to wildlife especially endangered species such as Cheetah remains a challenge. Botswana authorities and the collective efforts of all stakeholders in conservation are working towards reducing and eventually eliminating these kinds of incidences. We continue to monitor Victor’s progress and of course we will keep you updated.
Newsletters: June 2007 , February 2008 , July 2008 , December 2008 March 2009 ,
CHEETAH: A Predator Resource for the Students of Botswana
Activity sheets for use with the Cheetah student resource: Activity sheet 1, activity sheet 2, activity sheet 3, activity sheet 4, activity sheet 5
Predator-safe livestock farming leaflet
Livestock Guarding dogs information leaflet
Cheetah or Leopard - a guide showing the differences between cheetah and leopard
Predator ID leaflet Inner pages & Predator ID leaflet Outer pages - a guide to identifying what predator may have attacked livestock.
Community Education program information leaflet
Status Report for the Cheetah in Botswana - January 2007
Annual Report for 2007 - part 1 Annual report for 2007 - part 2
Click here to visit the Cheetah Conservation Botswana website
© Predator Conservation Trust.
