Pretoria - Two cheetahs - a male and a female - were today released into Rietvlei Nature Reserve after spending some time in a boma there to acclimatise to their new surroundings.
Visitors to the reserve will be able to see the two - both about 19-months-old - if they are lucky during their game drives.
Joe, the male joined Njozi, the female last month when he was relocated from Welgevonden game reserve to Rietvlei.
But Joe is only a visitor and it is expected that he will be relocated to another game reserve in Mozambique early next year.
Njozi arrived at Rietvlei in August from the Western Cape.
The two cheetahs immediately took to each other when they were introduced last month in the enclosed boma.
Vincent van der Merwe of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) said this is because both are sub-adults.
“Now that they are released on the reserve we expect them to hunt together and make mistakes together.”
It was a nail-biting few minutes when the gate of the boma was opened to introduce the two to their new home in the open.
To encourage them to leave the enclosure, Van der Merwe and the team lured them by pulling a carcass of a wildebeest on a rope behind a bakkie.
As the two cheetahs were not fed for the past three days, their ears pricked when they smelled the carcass.
Joe was first to slowly move towards “freedom” and lunch. He was soon followed by the shyer Njozi and the pair then tucked in.
But this will be their last free meal, as the two will now have to hunt for themselves among the wild animals on the reserve.
Van der Merwe said It’s important for small fenced reserves to introduce predators to control prey numbers and to maintain ecological balance.
“It’s wonderful from a tourism perspective and an ecological perspective,” he said. While the young male will be sent to Mozambique the female will stay behind and hopefully produce offspring.
Van der Merwe said they will be bringing two new males to the reserve around January next year.
“They will now hopefully be in free roaming conditions for the rest of their lives.”
Van der Merwe explained that a reserve such as Rietvlei only has enough prey for one or maybe two adult cheetahs at a time.
“You don’t want more cheetahs than that as you want to ensure that prey numbers don’t go beyond carrying capacity.
“We try and strike a balance. If there are too many cheetahs we will have to supplement prey,” he said.
He described the new male as a beautiful animal with a mix of Karoo and Namibian genetics.
Knowledge of cheetahs has grown fast and the EWT has had success with its metapopulation project for the long-term viability of cheetahs in smaller fenced reserves, and with the long-term genetic and demographic integrity of the metapopulation across Africa.
In 2017, Kiara and Sabona produced a litter of three cubs, the first time cheetah cubs had been born in the reserve, and they were a hit with visitors until their relocation.
Pretoria News