Cheetah Kingdom – Ep 5
Friday, 8 October 2010, 8:00PM – 8:30PM
The first five cheetahs have already been released and the team are checking on them, using telemetry equipment to get a fix on the cheetahs’ location. Once located, the cheetahs prove that they’re adapting well to their new habitat as two of the males, Frankie and Bones, spot a female warthog and her young. Despite never encountering warthogs before, Frankie successfully brings down one of the young clamping his jaws around the warthog’s throat and windpipe.
Dave says: “That’s the thing they normally have to learn from their mum – that throttling, and they got it straight off there which is good.”
His first kill a success, Frankie takes his prize to the shade of a nearby tree and enjoys a well deserved meal.
Along with the cheetahs and their pet jackal, Dave and Carla have also grown attached to a pack of four African hunting dogs who arrived at the foundation five years ago as orphaned pups. Having raised them since their arrival, the couple are now preparing the dogs for release in the coming weeks and it’s an emotional time for Dave: “It’s like leaving home for the first time. These guys have led a pretty cosseted life and they’re now going to go and face the dangers of the world. I’ve seen them hunt a mouse which is as big as they’ve hunted. They’re now going to be facing things a lot larger and a lot more dangerous.”
Dave and Carla give the dogs their last meal before their release and if all goes to plan, the dogs will soon be in the reserve and fending for themselves. After watching them grow up at the foundation, Dave and Carla will soon have to follow them from afar. Carla says: “It’s not going to be for much longer that I can sit here, watching them do their thing so I’ll treasure it while I can.”
Just a few days previously, Dave and Carla released another old friend into the reserve; five year old cheetah Cyclops, who has to rely on the sight of only one eye. The team at Okonjima track the cheetahs using radio collars, but Cyclops hasn’t been seen for a few days which has Dave worried. “It’s kind of a catch 22 situation, you know. We want him to go wild but we need to see him so we don’t want him to go wild just yet.”
After three hours of driving around the reserve, Dave finally picks up the radio signal and spots Cyclops who looks healthy. Relieved, he offers the cheetah some water and radios Carla to give her the good news. He says: “One of the reasons I do this job is to get these animals back out where they belong…When he was in captivity he was quite a wild cat…but now he’s in his element and a lot more relaxed.”
Cyclops still has much to prove before he can go back into the wild but every day he survives out here in the reserve, he’s one step nearer to freedom.
