Free-roaming cheetahs: researchers and conservationists join forces with farmers

Cyril Stannard, project manager and field officer at the Cheetah Outreach Trust, spoke to Roelof Bezuidenhout about the progress of the Free-roaming Cheetah Census, which covers the entire area where this iconic cat occurs in South Africa and neighbouring countries.

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In 2022, Ashia Cheetah Conservation, Cheetah Outreach Trust, Stellenbosch University and Groningen University in the Netherlands joined forces to provide a landscape-wide census of freeroaming cheetahs to allow for better communication about these animals between landowners and conservationists. There is very little scientific data available about the status and population of free-roaming cheetahs in South Africa.

Previous conservation efforts were mainly focused on cheetah within fenced-off protected areas.

Is the cheetah endangered?

The cheetah is not classified as endangered, but these cats are being increasingly threatened by human activities while also being dominated by and thus highly vulnerable to attacks from hyaenas, leopards and lions.

They are classified as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. The current population is thought to be close to 7 000 individuals about half of which occur in Southern Africa.

As much as 70% of the total cheetah population is found on farming land outside protected areas in Africa.

In South Africa, there are probably only about 500 free-roaming individuals, based on a small localised census done in the early 2000s.

Having covered nearly 40% of the 19 million hectares of the current free-roaming cheetah distribution range in South Africa (that is three times the size of Kruger National Park), we are now halfway through a three-year-long and much more comprehensive census.

Any new information yet?