One of the most successful release projects undertaken by the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Foundation happened in June 1993, when two cheetahs were set free at the Hoedspruit Air Force Base.
The air force base was experiencing a safety hazard with small game wandering on to the runways. The pair of cheetahs soon settled down in the 2000ha of natural bushveld surrounding the base, and helped reduce the amount of small game on the runways.
Because of the success of this project, two other cheetahs were released at the nature reserve surrounding the Louis Trichardt Air Force Base in September 1996, and all indications are that they have been as successful as the Hoedspruit pair in adapting to their new surroundings.
The releases were the culmination of a lifetime’s dedication to cheetahs by Lente Roode, who set up the foundation, based in Limpopo province.
Her first engagement with the speedy cats happened at age six, when she was given an orphaned cheetah cub after a farmer shot the mother. Years later, after she had married businessman Johann Roode and they bought a farm in Hoedspruit, she decided to try keeping a few cheetahs near the farmhouse.
She contacted Des Varaday, a well-known cheetah breeder whose facility was located near Middelburg in Mpumalanga. Much to her surprise, Varaday asked her whether she would be interested in taking over all 35 of his cheetahs because he was getting too old to look after them.
Roode agreed, and with the assistance of Professor David Meltzer of the Onderstepoort Faculty of Veterinary Science, she built the Hoedspruit Cheetah Project at her farm. It took a year for the animals to settle down properly in their new environment before the Hoedspruit Cheetah Project opened its doors to the public in 1990. Tourism, together with sales from the curio shop, helped to generate some of the income needed to run the project.
The project was initially established solely as a breeding centre for cheetahs, but the need for a breeding and research centre for other endangered species was soon realised. This led to the expansion of the project to provide facilities for several other endangered species. The new name for the outfit is the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Foundation and it covers more than 100ha of natural bush near the Kruger National Park.
Recent inmates include a pack of wild dogs, four sable antelope bulls, rhinos and black-footed cats.
One of the foundation’s more controversial projects involves trying to bring back the extinct Cape lion.
In a 12ha bush camp the foundation has four lions that the Mozambican government confiscated from a circus owner who was neglecting them. These four resemble the Barbary lions of North Africa, which had thick dark manes stretching underneath their stomachs to their hind legs. Once common across the whole of North Africa, the last Barbary lion seen alive was shot in Morocco in the 1920s.
Barbary lions are similar in appearance to the Cape lions, which became extinct in the second half of the 19th century. These black-maned lions found on the southern tip of Africa were the first of the African lion subspecies to become extinct.
Roode says researchers are trying to ascertain whether the Cape lions and Barbary lions were the same sub-species. The eventual aim of the project would be to re-introduce these animals back into areas where they formerly occurred.
“The ultimate objective is to return endangered African species to the wild once their numbers have increased to such an extent that they can be released. This is a long-term objective, which requires substantial commitment, both human and financial,” says Roode.
“The foundation is a non-profit organisation that ploughs all funds back into nature conservation. It has established itself as one of the leaders in the breeding and research of endangered species.
“It also provides a safe haven for orphaned and sick animals, and has an education centre where the public can learn about endangered species by observing them at close range.”
In 2000 a cheetah rescue unit was set up to assist farmers who have problems with cheetahs that catch their stock or rare wildlife. Two such “problem” cheetahs were captured in July 2000 and taken to the Hoedspruit foundation. After a three-month quarantine and adaptation period, the cheetahs were collared and released on to a reserve in the Eastern Cape, where they now play an important role in ecotourism. Similar projects have been successfully carried out since, and several more are envisaged for the future.
In December 2001, two young cheetah males were released at Shambala reserve close to Vaalwater, in the Bela Bela (Warmbaths) area. This operation was undertaken by Thys de Wet, the foundation’s expert on relocating “problem” animals, and former Kruger park veterinarian Douw Grobler.
Kwandwe Private Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape received a young mother cheetah with her two 10-month-old cubs at the end of 2001. In May 2002, two young adult males were released at Pretoria Municipality’s Rietvleidam Nature Reserve.
Plans for this year include the release of seven more cheetahs – a mother and her two cubs bound for Entabeni Private Nature Reserve, and a family of four that will be moved to Marakele National Park near Thabazimbi.