IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Marnewick, K.; Hayward, M.W.; Cilliers, D.; Somers, M.J. | |
| Survival of cheetahs relocated from rancheland to fenced protected areas in South Africa | |
| 2017 Book Chapter | |
In South Africa, wildlife can be privately owned and utilized for economic gain, with the consequent formation of thousands of wildlife ranches that are stocked with wildlife for the main purpose of hunting and live sale. When predators prey on antelope, the economic value attached to wildlife results in conflict. The cheetah, _Acinonyx jubatus_, is protected by legislation in South Africa, and cheetahs have thus been illegally shot and trapped in attempt to reduce losses. A compensation-relocation programme for "problem" cheetahs was therefore initiated in South Africa by landowners, conservation officials and biologists; this programme allowed landowners to legally capture "damage-causing" cheetahs on their property for relocation into fenced protected areas. Trapped cheetahs were temporarily placed in a specially designed holding facility to habituate them to humans to facilitate monitoring and future viewing for ecotourism. Cheetahs were released into approved reserves using soft-release method and were subsequently monitored. A total of 29 reserves and 189 cheetahs (92 adults: 59 males and 33 females, plus 94 cubs born on the reserves) were included in the survival analyses using the Kaplan-Meier (product limit) estimator with staggered entry. The mean annual survivorship for all cheetahs, including cubs born in this study, was 82.2%. The final survivorship value for all adult cheetahs was 0.23 and for cubs was 0.04. Cubs had significantly higher survivorship on reserves where other competing predators were absent. The median survival time was 38 months for adult males and more than 53 months for adult females, which is higher than the corresponding 17 months for adult males and 8 months for adult females on Namibian ranchland. |
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