In May, Action for the Wild donated £4,987 to the N/a’an ku sê Foundation in Namibia. These funds have already been put to good use, as the Foundation has purchased 4 radio collars, which will be used for their Carnivore Conservation Research Project.

The first of the four radio collars has just been used on an adult male cheetah, who was trapped on the 2nd September, at a cheetah marking tree on the wildlife reserve of the N/a’an ku sê Foundation. The cheetah had been known to use this area for several months already and was target-caught for monitoring purposes. The male is now known as ‘N074’, was in good physical condition, weighed 50kg and was estimated to be 8-10 years old. Now that he has been radio collared, researchers can monitor his movements on a daily basis.

The N/a’an ku sê’s Reserve is located in an area of intensive cattle ranching and therefore the researchers attempt to monitor as many free-ranging large predators as possible, not only to document their ecology, but also to assist farmers with livestock management. The researchers share carnivore movements, as recorded by the GPS collars, with the farmers on a daily basis. Using this information many farmers have started fine-tuning their livestock management and, in the process, have reduced losses to predators. The collars therefore have scientific value and help promote farmer-carnivore co-existence.

Action for the Wild looks forward to hearing further news on the other 3 radio collars purchased with our funds.

Picture of cheetah being collared © Jack Somerville.

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