4 new kittens at N/a'an ku se

Caracal Cubs - Rocky and Ivy

It was a normal Saturday morning and several N/a'an ku se staff were making the most of a weekend off and picking up supplies in Maerua Mall. The Mall security guards told them about 2 tiny caracals who had been seen wandering around without their mother, seemingly seperated from their mother. This is an unsafe environment for 2 small cubs to be in, with no mother to guide them or direct back to their natural habitat to feed. They are also at high risk of being taken by people wanting the cubs as "pets". 

After speaking with the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in Windhoek we took them back to our farm to look after until they are old enough to live back in the wild on their own. We keep them isolated from people as much as possible and we hope in a year they will be old enough (they're around 6 months old now) and strong enough to fend for themselves and we can release them in Solitaire where our new carnivore research base is.

Cheetah Cubs - Tessa and Tosca 

On 14th June, Marlice received a phone call from a lady in Omaruru, 350km from N/a’an ku sê, who has been looking after and raising 15 month old cheetah cubs. Unfortunately the carer has now hit poor health and can no longer look after them. Early the next day Marlice and a volunteer (accompanied by the Animal Planet film crew here at the time), made the long drive to Omaruru to collect the brother and sister cheetahs, Tosca and Tessa. The cubs are semi-tame and so they'll live outside Rudie and Marlice's house next to Lucky, Ayla and Tearmark for the time being, with minimal human contact, before they are old enough to be re-released back into the wild. At the moment they are too small to even attach tracking collars so we hope in a year’s time they will be big enough to release.

The move into the camp (which used to be Shakira and Ombeli's home when they were young cubs), was intruging to watch as Lucky, Ayla and Tearmark stalked the fence line wondering who the new company was. After a lot of hissing and stamping, the cheetahs grew used to the new situation and live content side by side.