Help Dogs Save Cats

We would like you to meet Lucky! This sweet well-maintained boy was a working dog on a resettled farm where he loved watching over his goats and sheep. Unfortunately, when his herder, livestock, and him were crossing a road, he was hit by a truck. This was not due to negligence of the herder but was just an accident, and thankfully the herder got him to the veterinarian as soon as possible. He sustained quite a few severe injuries and was taken to a veterinarian clinic in Otjwarongo and then transferred to a clinic in Windhoek. In Windhoek he had to receive surgery to have his femoral head removed on his left side. Both his front and back right legs were broken in the accident, so those were splinted as well.

Despite these injuries, Lucky has been a real trooper and has been walking better than we expected. He is very patient with all his bandage changes, which must be changed daily. The clinic team and numerous volunteers/interns are always happy to give Lucky a short walk to help him gain some muscle strength back in his legs and so he can relieve himself. You can normally find him out in the office relaxing on his mattress pad with volunteers, staff, and interns working close by. He has been receiving a lot of tender love and care while he recovers and due to his young age (7-8 months) he is very resilient.

Lucky’s recovery will take many months, but here at CCF we have high hopes for him, and will of course keep you updated on his progress.

Thank you for your support of our Livestock Guarding Dog Program.  Your donation allows us to help Lucky and other dogs like him receive the care they need.

Gratefully,

CCF Staff

P.S.  Dr.  Marker will be on tour this spring.  She would love to see you!  Please check our website for updates on her schedule.  http://www.cheetah.org/?nd=event_and_tour_news

Links:

• Main website
• CCF Blog
• CCF Facebook

We had a banner year at CCF in 2013 for puppies -- 5 litters! And that’s a good thing, because there’s now a two year waiting list for the dogs. We’ve also had some very good news from our research -- the dogs don’t just reduce predation, they increase tolerance among farmers for predators. In other words, our Livestock Guarding Dog Program really IS making a provable difference for the cheetah and other predators as well. 

There is more good news about our dog program this year.  We’ve now introduced livestock guarding dogs to Tanzania, making this the 4th African country to which we have exported this solution for non-lethal predator control. These four puppies were taken to the Ruaha Carnivore Project just last month.  

Dr.  Laurie Marker learned early on as she traveled rural Namibia, interviewing farmers and researching human-wildlife conflict, that a farmer was never going to choose to save the cheetah if doing so threatened his herds and his livelihood. To secure a future for the cheetah, we had to first secure the farmer’s livelihood.

So we offered the farmers tools to help them, one of which are Anatolian shepherds and Kangal dogs. They bond with the herds and scare off predators. The dogs are so effective, farmers using a CCF dog to protect their herds see their predation rates from all predators, including cheetahs, reduced by 80 to 100 percent.

Thank you for being part of our success. 

Links:

• Cheetah Conservation Fund
• CCF Blog