Cheetah Kids The Caracal Project Update 2012
The Cheetah Kids Caracal Project field update from Aletris Neils. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue our documentary filming and collaring of the Caracal Cat.
Aletris is back in Namibia!
Aletris with Cheetah Kids' Cameron & Kristen
It has been an exciting winter with Aletris. We continued filming for the Caracal Project, visited classrooms, exchanged pen pal letters and were able to see the first data from our Sirtrack GPS collars (look for a video update soon).
The Caracal Project started in May of 2010 with a dedicated, passionate group of people determined to support Aletris and create awareness of the caracal and its plight. The money raised helped pay for the first two Sirtrack GPS collars of the Caracal Project, which Aletris placed on CC01 and CC02. Cheetahs Kids was able to purchase an infrared camera trap, which is in Namibia placed near a popular water hole capturing wildlife images. Thanks to the many families who have donated time, resources and money to help launch and continue our documentation of the Caracal Project.
Stay tuned for Caracal Project video updates from Aletris! For now, read Aletris’ latest blog below.
CC01 with Cheetah Kids Sirtrack Collar.
Namibian Update
The momentum is really picking up for the Caracal Project! This month I not only released CC02 but I also got CC03. CC03 was unfortunately caught in a gin trap and luckily instead of being killed she was given to me. The trap removed 2 of her toes- however she is a fighter and is healing well. I hope to release her in a few weeks, or as soon as she recovers. CC03 will get the final GPS collar I have and I am constantly looking for support to purchase more collars- I have had to stop trapping until I can get more collars but could still get captured caracal from farmers.
The workup on CC02 (a handsome 2 year old male) was perfect; he went down easily and recovered normally. He is still a young, lanky male (weighing only 10 kg) and should fill out more. He has the potential to be a massive cat. He was radio collared with a GPS collar sponsored by Cheetahkids- thank you so much! Most impressive is that the farmer allowed me to release him back onto his sheep farm so that we can learn more about caracals on farmlands. This is a major victory!
Chris arrived and we spent several days meeting with other conservationists in Swakopmund. Of course we had to squeeze in some herping and found a variety of geckos, chameleons, and snakes. The skeleton coast lived up to its name and washed up on the desolate shores we discovered dead leatherback sea turtles, dead cape fur seals, sharks, and a dead whale. We also spent time in Namibia’s natural history museum, noting all historical records of caracals. Two volunteers have joined the caracal project, and I look forward to working with Sam and Sean.
I have also spoken with several farming associations all over the country about caracal and predator management. Heading to one farm took me over 2 hours to go 40 km- I had to drive through multiple flowing rivers and up mountains- but the farm was breathtaking once I arrived. This month I have also necropsied aardwold and jackals and am learning a lot about the sympatric carnivores living with caracals.
It is starting to get very cold and has dropped below freezing multiple times this week. This is making many of the nocturnal animals more diurnal- leading to some spectacular sightings. Enjoy the warm northern hemisphere!
Cheers,
Aletris
Namibian Update 9
It continues to rain and parts of Namibia are officially declared a flood disaster zone. On the farms I work on there is already between 4-9 times the annual rainfall and it is only May. Portions of roads are still underwater and what isn’t standing water is a thick quicksand-like mud; not good to drive around in! The rain is however bringing the flowers, butterflies, and birds out in full force. Many plants are that botanists have not seen bloom in decades are blooming, including some plants that people thought were extinct because they have not bloomed in the last 100 years. It is spectacular! The south is a sea of thick grass, usually over a meter high, in areas that are usually bare ground. The high grass is concentrating the owls to hunt along the dirt roads. On a 50 kilometer stretch last week around midnight I counted 13 spotted eagle owls, 4 barn owls, and a white-faced owl, plus 4 bat eared foxes and an aardwolf.
The rains have also had several unwelcomed consequences. There is currently an epidemic of African Horse Sickness, a horrible virus spread by a Culicoides midge. On Kiripotib, the farm on which I am currently located, 11 horses have already died. This disease can be up to 95% fatal and most horse owners are in panic.
On the farm, there is always so much to do. In the interim of collecting research data, 
I try to assist wherever possible. I have gained experience milking cows, dehorning cattle, treating sick horses, tagging livestock, bottle feeding orphaned foals, and counting sheep (yes, I now know where that expression comes from- there is nothing more comforting for a sheep farmer then knowing all the sheep are there). If only more of them would corral their sheep at night to protect them from predators and people.
In the past few weeks I have necropsied several carnivores, all in great condition due to abundant food. On Friday I drive to another farm to pick up a caracal that was killed- these carcasses provide me with a wealth of information and it is very helpful that the farmers are willing to keep them in their freezers to give to me.
Two weeks ago I found a young springbok that had been killed by a caracalonly hours before. I dragged the carcass into a trap but the cat did not return. An African hawk eagle did however come to investigate and the camera trap pictures I got of him could be a range extension for the species.
A few days ago I got another caracal- CC02! He is beautiful but he has an injury to his leg. At the advice of a local vet, I am going to keep him for another few weeks to treat his leg before he gets released back into the wild, accessorized with a radio collar of course. More to come on this cat!
I continue to work on the humane trap initiative- and hope to exchange another 20 traps this month- who knows how many bat eared foxes, African wildcats, small spotted cats, servals, aardwolves, not to mention caracals will be saved?
Cheers,
Aletris
Namibian Update
The last few weeks have been packed with guests. Julie, a PhD student from University of Montana came to visit and discus collaborating on disease samples- she spent almost 2 weeks in Namibia. My advisor, Dr. Melanie Culver and her daughter Sierra came to spend time with me too. Melanie and Sierra were only in Namibia for a whirlwind 10 days and we covered a large portion of the country, spoke with a lot of famers, went to Etosha and visited CCF. Melanie bought me a very snazzy extra-large orange cooler so that I can transport carcasses to be necropsied with Dr. Axel Hartman at the Otjiwarongo Veterinary Clinic.
I am opportunistically am collecting genetic and hair samples from road kill I come across and have found fresh aardwolf, bat eared fox, cape fox, black backed jackal and brown hyena on the Namibian roads this month. The tall grass is making it very difficult for animals to cross roads and carnivore road kill in abundant. This weekI have been spending time with bushmen farm workers responsible for trapping carnivores. A few days ago they caught a beautiful African wildcat, a huge male in the prime of life. Horribly, the steel trap they used broke his leg in multiple places and they killed him with rocks just minutes before they got there. I collected the cat and took the trap after asking the farmer. I am just sick for this majestic tom cat – Ironically, they don’t even want to kill wildcats; they are just incidental captures while trying to get caracals. I have started providing humane padded traps to farmers in exchange for the steel jaw traps- they seem to be very receptive to this idea but I need to get a lot more traps. These padded traps allow incidental captures, like this wildcat to be released back into the wild- potentially saving a lot of animals from an unnecessary and agonizing death.
I have not been feeling well this month and had about a week where I was achy, with nighttime fevers and chills- I went in for a malaria test and fortunately it came back negative-yeah! The mosquitoes are out in full force as there is standing water everywhere. I also had a experience with bed bugs this month and now know why the bedtime saying says “don’t let the bedbugs bite;” it is horrible! I am still spotted. 
Despite it still raining, I hope to start trapping again in the next few weeks. I have currently identified and will try to capture caracals on 3 farms where I have convinced the farmers to stop killing cats- minor victories but I will take them! CC01 the male caracal I collared in January is providing a wealth of data and has not killed any lambs- three weeks ago he killed a puff adder though….very interesting.
Yesterday we found a dead Angolan Epauletted Fruit Bat, this is a range extension for the species of almost 1000 kms- it is so wet this year that things are moving. As I am writing this I looked down and there was a small yellow cape cobra only a meter from me, we startled each other and he hooded and slithered away- It is currently contorted in an intricately carved wooden coffee table in the lapa and I waiting for it to come out, so I can guide it outside. Constant reminders that this is Africa and you have to be aware of your surroundings all the times.
Early this month, I was at a farm called Kiripotib and around 3:30 AM I was awakened by a load scream coming from just outside my room. I grabbed my headlamp and ran outside barefoot. I had only taken a few steps when I looked down and saw a zorilla (the African version of a skunk- only they are not a true skunk) run right between my legs. I jumped and it just kept running. But the scream was getting even loader so I kept going towards it and around a candle pod acacia bush saw a huge male zorilla with a sub-adult zorrila. The adult male was biting the subadult midway downs its back and shaking him ferociously trying to kill it. I told the male to “drop it” but unlike my dogs, he was not going to listen to me. The little guy was bleeding and so freaked out and I had to do something, so I tapped the male on his back and clapped my hands in his face but still he held on and kept battering. Finally I grabbed the big one by the scruff of his neck and started lifting him and when it was only a few inches off the ground, he let go of the small one. They both toke off in opposite directions- but not before both squirted me with a fine spray. Although they do not have the nozzle of the North American skunks, I discovered the hard way that zorilla’s can and do spray. I had to take multiple showers before the smell was neutralized. I nostalgically thought back to my time in the Sierra Anchas with the spotted skunks!
Cheers! Aletris
Namibian Update
So much has happened in the last few months! I have started working in the southern part of the country where sheep farming is the major livelihood. I have been focusing a lot of my time on getting to know the farmers and understanding their conflicts with caracals, jackals, and other carnivores. Since farmers in the area are very busy and don’t often work with outsiders this has not been an easy task. However once I earn a farmer’s trust, I find them some of the most hospitable people I have ever met and am invited to stay with them and to eat dinner regularly. Some of the events I have been asked to attend include stud ram auctions, lamb spit braii (BBQ), and lamb roundups. These events are very important culturally and help me better get to know the Namibian farmers and there ethos- this is vital if I am going to help develop solutions that both benefit farmers and caracals. I am finding that many farmers don’t want to kill predators but don’t have enough information to do anything else- they can’t risk losing lambs. Each lamb last is currently worth ~ US$100. So most poison, use leg traps, cage traps, packs of hunting dogs, and spotlight shoot at night to try to remove predators because this is what they have always done and no one has provided them with an alternative solution that actually works.
This week I am permanently relocating to the southern part of the county. To an area in the heart of the farmer conflict with caracals, it is exactly where I need to be, despite being incredibly challenging. I will be based out of several farms. These farms are very remote and in many cases hours from a store and half a day to the nearest town. The closest town to where I will be staying is Koes a very small town composed mainly of farmers and Nama bushmen.
In February I taught a course for CCF on Human Wildlife Conflict for African Conservation Biologists. We had a great course with participants from throughout the continent working with a diverse array of problems. No one had advice on caracals but many participants are now going to help collect data for me in their home countries. 
In Koes, I met with the Adam Steve Primary School and have started a pen pal program between them and the kids in Tucson through Cheetahkids. I plan to periodically provide wildlife lessons for them. Hopefully they will see another side to carnivores, as many of their fathers are the ones tasked with tracking and killing predators on farms.
It has continued to rain and is said to be the wettest year on record. This caused a massive problem in the south last month when the ground was so water logged that the electric poles were falling over and the railroad tracks were washed away. The region was without any electricity for a long time- many farmers lost an entire year’s worth of meat because their freezers defrosted and I lost a lot of samples. We are all anxiously awaiting sunshine!
Despite not trapping much I have captured my first caracal CC01, a young male. He lives on a farm that has always killed caracals but has agreed to stop to allow me to collect information that will hopefully help mitigate carnivore livestock conflicts. Tracking him has been difficult since many of the roads are under a meter of water and thick mud. And this cat can move! So far, he is primarily eating cape hares. More to come about him soon!
Hope all is well in the US and that you are enjoying a beautiful spring- springtime in the Sonoran might be my favorite place in the world.
Cheers,
Aletris
Bobcat Kitten Exam Video
See a new video of Aletris and Cheetah Kids examining and bobcat kitten for the Caracal Project at the Southwest Wildlife Center.
A Caracal visit
The camera trap caught this beautiful Caracal at one of the cage traps last week!
Caracal Project Update from Aletris
So much has happened in the last few weeks! Brett, the field assistant helping me on the Caracal Project returned to the US. This was a great loss, as Brett was a very valuable part of the project, but he will continue to stay involved from afar. Luckily, that same week Chris arrived and will help for the next few weeks, it is so wonderful to have him here! Trapping has been going well, although I have not been able to do as much as I would like. I’ve been catching a lot of honey badgers, and have found that recapturing them is not a problem… at least for males. I recaptured two adult males in the same trap at the same time! This is very interesting, since males were believed to be solitary. One badger, MC03, has been recaptured 5 times this month, but I still always love seeing him. I have also recently captured a beautiful female brown hyaena. She looked very large, so we performed an ultrasound and discovered that she was pregnant. Brown hyaenas are almost as rare as caracals here.
Aletris in the lab at CCF
About a week ago, I started using a new lure, and the very next day when I pulled up to the traps there was a large male caracal near one trap. He ran, and I stalked him in the bush for about 15 minutes and even got a picture of him (it will be posted on Cheetahkids.com). He came back to that trap later that night to investigate the new lure but did not go into the trap, so we are getting a lot closer. The camera trap video is exciting!
On the 16th, we went to my friend Preskilla’s wedding in the far North, almost on the Angola border. This was a traditional Otjiwambo wedding and it lasted several days. On the first day, the groom-to-be’s father and uncles brought livestock (cattle, goats, and chickens) to her family and they determine if it is sufficient for the wedding to proceed. It was, so there was a big celebration that night with lots of traditional dancing (which is so much fun!) and consumption of a traditional drink made by the women using sorghum. The next day we went to the small village church, but it was already in use for a funeral! We just waited around for a few hours, as nothing is rushed in Namibia. After the funeral, two couples wanted to get married, so there was a dual wedding. Then the bride and groom come out and all female friends and relatives dance in front of them chanting (think Xena style) and singing everywhere they go….they only move forward about a foot per minute or so for a long time… Back at the bride’s family homestead, there is a huge party and the animals that were sacrificed the previous day are eaten. The couple each take a bite of the hoof from the largest bull (it’s prepared especially for them) and everyone feasts and dances into the night. We were treated with such kindheartedness, and welcomed as the only non-Otjiwambo guests. It was the most extraordinary wedding I have ever been to.
After the wedding we spent my birthday in Etosha National Park. Immediately after entering, we spotted a herd of 16 elephants with the largest matriarch I have ever seen, and between her legs was a tiny calf. We watched the family group play in the water and coat themselves with mud. Etosha was filled with butterflies seeking water and nutrients in the muddy puddles on the roads, and when driving through them thousands would swarm around the vehicle like it was snowing from below. It was so beautiful my pictures just couldn’t capture it. We also saw 14 spotted hyaena, 5 dik-dik, at least 17 black rhino, and over 100 giraffe and ostrich (more than I have ever seen), thousands of wildebeest, zebra, and springbok. But for my birthday present, I came around a corner and at the base of a tree was a huge male lion. We stopped the car and watched him from only a few meters away. He became very used to our presence and after about 15 minutes two females came out and greeted him. Then they began calling and 6 small spotted cubs came out and began nursing. It was unreal! We watched the group for hours and saw so many great interactions. One spunky young male cub kept aggravating his dad while he tried to sleep and kept getting reprimanded, but never enough that it prevented him from trying again. It was hilarious. The next day we came back, found the group, and continued watching them. Upon closer investigation, the male had an injured back right leg, possibly from being kicked by a zebra or such. I am worried about him being able to defend his family from another male, and if he can’t, both he and the cubs don’t have much of a future. But he stayed close and still had tremendous fight in his eyes, so I am hopeful he will pull through. That night two honey badgers raided our camp and climbed into our trash can…they behave like miniature African bears!
Unfortunately I got laryngitis, most likely from hanging out with coughing kids at the wedding that always wanted to hold my hand. So we had to cut our trip short and I spent a few days incapacitated in bed. Christmas was mellow; we went on a hay-ride pulled by a CCF tractor for Christmas Eve. On Christmas day we had a braii (barbeque) at Laurie’s house, complete with a decorated acacia branch. It is difficult for me to get into the holiday spirit in the summer, but I had a great time. That evening, we went out and hiked around the base of the Waterberg plateau looking for caracal spoor. We found a sub-adult male leopard that we watched for a while. Wildlife sighting at CCF have been great this month, on one game drive we saw: 5 aardwolves (2 small cubs coming out of a den), a wild cheetah, 4 African wildcats, 3 bushbabies, 3 leopards, 6 springhares, 3 porcupines, and 3 jackals……unfortunately no caracal. Every cat appears to be more abundant here than caracals, there is nothing at CCF that is seen less.
The hornbill chicks are growing, I listen to them in their nest box every day and they are getting loud. The female has decided that she will no longer eat skinks, frogs, or chameleons…but I watch the male try anyway and she just tosses them out of the box. He is working overtime trying to catch bugs and small mammals to fulfill the picky family’s tastes.
I am preparing to go down to the south next week. The south is very rural and arid with huge sheep farms. The people living in this area removed lions, spotted hyaena, and wild dogs close to 80 years ago, while cheetahs and leopards were effectively removed around 45 years ago. The people are notoriously anti-carnivore and have a track record of eradication. Due to this, almost no conservation efforts have been directed in this region since the large charismatic carnivores that everyone focuses on are gone. In this area, caracals are the top carnivore and the farmers claim to have tremendous problems with them. I have arranged to meet with several of farmers’ associations and will stay with a few farmers that are willing to work with me. I am certain that if I can work with them we can develop solutions that benefit both farmers and caracals before caracals too are wiped out. Wish me luck…I have been warned I will need it!
I hope your holidays were wonderful and happy New Year!
Cheers, Aletris
