New home for Addo’s cheetahs

TWO cheetahs which had been on a long-term visit to the Addo Elephant National Park were translocated to a new home in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday.

After weeks of searching through the vast Addo park for the two male cheetahs, park officials were finally able to track them down and capture them for their big move.

According to SANParks spokeswoman Fayroush Ludick, the cats were taken to the Phinda Private Game Reserve with the help of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Cheetah Metapopulation Project.

“These cheetahs were never meant to stay at Addo,” Ludick said.

“They escaped from a neighbouring property in 2014, and we allowed them to stay at Addo until we could find a more suitable place for them.”

She said three cheetahs had found their way into the park, much to the delight of people who visited Addo specifically for the opportunity to spot them. One of them had since died.

However, it is against SANParks’ policy to keep animals in areas where they never occurred naturally, and the search for a new habitat started shortly after they settled in the park.

“We have known for a while that the cheetahs would be going to Phinda, but we could not find them.

“For a good couple of weeks we have been struggling to track them down inside the park, so when we found them this morning [yesterday] we took full advantage of the situation,” Ludick said.

The Cheetah Metapopulation Project, funded by a number of international environmental entities and donors, comprises 300 cheetahs located at more than 50 small enclosed reserves across South Africa.

The project’s aim is to constantly swap cheetahs between enclosures in an attempt to increase their population without the danger of inbreeding occurring.