Sunny is a young male cheetah who arrived at Wild Cats World in the summer of 2014 as one of our ambassadors for his species.
Like the other two cheetah ambassadors at the Spotted Cats Conservation Project, Speedy & Spiky, Sunny is also semi-wild, or motherraised. The Wild Cats World cheetahs will live in huge camps far from the other WCW projects, to give the cheetahs a relaxed and stress-free life, far from the tourist-zone.
Born: Steitlerville(SA), October 2013
Surf to a wonderful docu about caracal mom Tetha and her 3 adorable kittens, filmed on foot in the Addo, in South Africa. Tetha was released there and successfully raised this litter of kittens. Sadly she did die. Watch and enjoy – and get convinced that caracals should be in the wild, to survive and be left in peace by humans (farmers, rangers….)
Although the situation where Dimas and Sawal are living in right now isn’t ideal, they are both fine. They are active, hunting and eating well. The caretaker at the sanctuary is giving them live prey once a week. On other days they get their food in different ways to give them enrichment: meat hanging on a rope, or hidden in a carton box that is hanging in their enclosure. Unfortunately we still haven’t found a suitable release site for them. It really is a difficult situation as there are not so many suitable areas left and the better areas are already occupied by other leopards. Besides, there’s so many human-leopard conflict.
At this moment we are still focusing on the Ciremai National Park. One male leopard has been spotted there, but more research needs to be done in the middle of this National park. Although we are very happy with the help and cooperation with the National Park, the research isn’t going as fast as we hoped for. We are depending on their officers and they are also the ones who place the camera-traps to see if there are more leopards around.
If it appears so there’s just one male around in this area, the question still would be if it is wise to release our two males there as well, as they no doubt will start searching for females and if they are not around in this National park they will probably start looking outside. If they leave the area we can start all over again as there will be conflicts with humans again. There’s just too little space for wildlife and leopards left on Java and not much better elsewhere in the world.
An other option is Cikapu area. The Forest Department talked to us about this area as it seems there are no leopards around here but they are interested to get some there. But before this can happen lots of work needs to be done, to have this area better managed as a lot of people are entering this area. Also the usual habitat assessment needs to be done first, so before we actually know for sure it is suitable, many months will pass… and still many more funds are needed.
Just for you to know, we continue to work hard on this and hopefully next time there will be better news about the release of our two leopard friends Sawal and Dimas. Keep them in your prayers and if you have anything to spend, please fund and support the leopards with the help they so desperately need. See the info on the Wild Cats World website.
Cheetahs thrive, wild dogs don’t…
Increases in the number of top predators like lions do not always affect the number of cheetahs in the area. A recent study looked at the effects of lion populations on other hunters. The number of cheetahs was not affected by the increase in the lion population but wild dogs suffered to the point of local extinction.
The study used historical data accumulated in the Serengeti over a period of 30 years and study of individual animals via radio-collars. During the closing decades of the previous century the number of lions tripled. During the same period the wild dogs left the area or were killed outright while the cheetah population remained stable.
When comparing the findings with data from fenced areas in southern Africa showed the same pattern. Cheetahs can live with lions but wild dogs can’t.
What could be a factor is that lions do not exclusively hunt the same prey as cheetahs and therefore will not always compete at the dinner table. Wild dogs have a wider range of prey animals and can therefore be a greater threat to lions.
Of course the study only addresses certain aspects of inter-species dynamics and does not mention that all three species suffer most from the ultimate apex-predator, humans and their relentless expansion.
Read the study report in the Journal of Animal Ecology
On ground level they are still working hard to make the release of the wild leopards Sawal and Dimas a fact. Sadly things in Indonesia are not going fast, as you can expect of a country with an atti…tude “if not today, there’s always tomorrow!”
But currently there’s a meeting with Ciremai National Park to talk things through about the release and to put camera traps in the center of this Park to continue with the assessment in that area. It is a difficult project as there’s little info and experience in the release of Javan leopards and no knowledge of suitable areas to do a release as such in which the leopards will be safe.
The leopards are fine under the circumstances but the situation is far from ideal of course and we all cannot wait to give back their freedom. Help is offered now from a person experienced in surveys, camera trapping etc. so let’s hope this will speed up the assessment in the Ciremai National Park.
Our fund raising #3 is still on for 5 more days on Indiegogo, for everyone who still wants to support this release project and everything to do with it, a very valuable and time consuming operation. In the meantime we keep you up-dated whenever there’s news!!
