When the mother of 3 tiny cheetah cubs was sadly found dead earlier this week by Gondwana’s monitoring team, wildlife vet Dr Willem Burger from Botlierskop was called and immediately rushed to the reserve to help searching and caring for her 3 months old cubs. It quickly became clear that following and capturing the cubs in the thick fynbos vegetation was nearly impossible. The rescue party had to abandon the search when darkness fell. Running out of options and in a race against time, Dr Burger decided to draw on some high-tech helpers.
He organised a helicopter, a heat-seeking drone as well as a specialist with a high quality net gun for animal capture for the following morning. Dr Burger also contacted Ashia Cheetah Conservation to be on site and hopefully take over the cubs to be raised at Ashia’s Centre in Paarl for eventual wilding and release. The Ashia Team being only a mere 4 hours away, were on the spot early next morning as were the high-tech specialists and Gondwana’s team, with Dr Burger planning and leading the operation.
Everyone was hoping that the cubs had stayed in the area where they had been seen the day before. Thanks to the high-tech equipment, kindly made available by Afriforum and heat-seeking drone pilot Ernst Kamffer, they were soon spotted cuddling together in the thick vegetation. That’s when the truly remarkable part of this rescue mission started. Gavin Schaefer, the helicopter pilot from Mossel Bay Helicopters, expertly managed to “drive” the cubs out of the thicket and towards an open grassy plane. It took DW Du Plooy, the experienced net gunner, just one attempt for each cub and all three were sound and safe in Ashia’s crate an incredible 20 minutes later!
Cape Nature was contacted for the emergency transport permit to Ashia and as always was quick to react and help. Although very frightened and stressed, luckily none of the little fluff balls were injured and at 4pm they were already at Ashia with water, food, and heat lamps to replace the warmth of their mother.
The cubs were quite skittish when arriving at Ashia, went into hiding and refused any food offerings. Therefore, the Ashia Team is very excited to report that the cubs have started to eat since early morning of Day 2. They polished a springbok bone of all meat as well as some zebra mince and liver. In the evening they were happily chewing on a fresh zebra bone. “A joy to see, especially as they are also calmer now with full bellies”, says Kate Lindop, Assistant Manager at the Ashia Cheetah Centre.
The tragic loss of their mother, probably due to injuries obtained while she was hunting, is very sad, especially as the first-time mom had, so far, done an incredible job in birthing and raising her first litter on a hard reserve. The slightly over two-year-old female arrived on Gondwana in December 2022 and was herself part of a well-known rescue story. Born on Dinokeng she was one of the Miracle 8 cubs, formed by two separate orphaned litters on Dinokeng, rescued by their monitoring team, raised, wilded and released by Kevin Richardson Foundation. Throughout their time at KRF their health and development was closely monitored by Dr Peter Caldwell who is now again advising Ashia regarding health, diet and supplements. Ashia’s involvement in this rescue story consisted in advising on best wilding practices and financially helping with the construction of the pre-release wilding section at Kevin’s wildlife sanctuary.
Special thanks go to all parties involved making this spotless rescue mission a rewarding success:
Gondwana Private Game Reserve Conservation Team, Jono Berry
African Wildlife Conservation Foundation (AWCF), Dr Willem Burger
Mossel Bay Helicopters, Lizelle Crous
Helicopter Pilot, Gavin Schaefer
Netgunner, D.W. Du Plooy
AfriForum Drone pilot, Ernst Kamffer
Ashia Cheetah Conservation, Nathan Bezuidenhout and Emily Howard
Cape Nature, Carlo Van Tonder
@
@
@
@
@
@
Video/photos: AfriForum, Dr Burger, Ashia
Copy: Chantal Rischard, Ashia
Негізгі бет Үй жануарлары мен аңдар Remarkable rescue mission saves lives of 3 orphaned cheetah cubs on Gondwana Private Game Reserve!
Пікірлер