Wildlife Conservation South Africa Project #44171

Big Move for Cheetah Experience!!

by ZA Cheetah Conservation

Project Report | Jun 16, 2022
Check out what we've been doing lately!

By Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen | Project Founder and Owner

Volunteer Village Kitchen in progress

As it has been over a year now since we moved, a lot has changed since we arrived in Bela Bela and many things are still changing every day. The camps were built, houses were built, we got a meatroom and volunteer room,... One thing that is still a big project in progress is our volunteer village. When we purchased the farm, the buildings were already there, all we need to do now is shape the setting into something that works for volunteers. We have to build a kitchen and a lounge, finish the bathrooms, install the water system and fix the electricity. It speaks for itself that this is an expensive project. We've received a lot of donations so far but are still in need of a lot of funds to finish our much needed volunteer village.

Another big project that has been taking up a lot of our time, is clearing our firelines. Winter in South Africa is fireseason and since we now live in the bush, we are taking every possible precaution against fires. Our staff has been busy cutting grass, trimming trees and poisioning weeds to make sure we have a proper safety line to keep our animals safe in case of a fire.

Recently we also had to sedate the tiger, Fushan, because he had broken a tooth. Fushan went to the vet in Pretoria and received the best care! Your donations were also used to finance Fushans' vet care and we can't thank you enough for this!

Freshly cut Firelines

Fushan the tiger getting his teeth fixed

Links:

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Feb 16, 2022
Our project is still growing every day!

By Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen | Project Founder and Owner

Blaze in his new enclosure!

In our last update, we informed you that we were busy building an enclosure for Blaze and Shailoh, our rescue mountain lion and leopard. We are proud to announce that we have finished the construction and were able to move Blaze and Shailoh into their forever home. Blaze immediately went to explore and had the best time sniffing around. Shailoh had less confidence and hid for the first couple of days as the big enclosure was very overwhelming to her. After a week, both of them gained a lot of confidence and were finally completely comfortable in their new camp. After spending the first 7 years of their lives in a 100 square enclosure, Blaze and Shailoh barely know what to do with all the space they have in their 3000 square meter enclosure.

More good news from our side is that our caracals Maxy and Sasha also moved into their newly built enclosure. Maxy was living in someone's house as a pet before he was surrendered to Cheetah Experience as he got too big and too destructive to live in the house. Sasha was rejected by her mum and therefore rescued by us. She was initally living with a serval she grew up with but their friendship unfortunately broke down. Maxy and Sasha were introduced to eachother and immediately got along really well. They lived in a temporary enclosure for a while until we finally finished their new home. When we moved them, they were full of confidence and didn't hesitate to go and meet their new neighbours. They have settled in completely now and are loving their enclosure every day.

We also have some good news regarding our tiger Fushan. After months and months of struggling to fill up his pool, we finally managed to install a new system which now allows us to fill up Fushan's pool straight from our tanks, which means that we don't have to get water delivered in a truck anymore. Fushan loves his pool and spends hours and hours sitting in the water looking at everything that's going on around him.

Since our move, we have been very busy with building new connections in the area but this is unfortunately a long process. Because our name isn't fully out there yet, our meat supply is rather limited. This means that we have to purchase meat and prices in Limpopo are through the roof. Your donations have helped us to buy food for the animals and once again, we can't thank you enough.

All of this wouldn't have been possible without your help so from the entire team at Cheetah Experience, we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who donated. No words can describe how grateful we are for your help.

Shailoh loves her new home!

Maxy and Sasha moved into their new enclosure!

Fushan in his pool!

Links:

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Oct 19, 2021
Fundraising for Blaze and Shailoh's New Enclosure

By Riana van Nieuwenhuizen | Project Founder and Owner

Our new volunteer room!

Thanks to Your help and support, we are happy to announce that our volunteer room has been built. Now that summer is almost here, it is really nice to have a place where the volunteers can just chill for a little bit and have a break during the day. We also start our days at the volunteer room with the staff meting then the volunteer meeting. The volunter room has everything the volunteers need: coffee, tea & sugar for the mornings, a fridge where they can keep their drinks cold during the day and lockers where they can keep their bags safe.

However, we are still busy with building the lion house and an enclosure for our new family members: Blaze and Shailoh. At the begining of September we were very busy organising an emergency re-homing of Blaze and Shailoh. Due to circumstances out of the facilities control, the animals lives were at risk from outside factors in their current home. The facility had to make the difficult decision to close their doors and safely relocate their animals. Shailoh the cape leopard and Blaze the mountain lion have lived together since they were cubs and the two best friends will remain together.

Blaze and Shailoh were in a smaller temporary area awaiting the building of their permanant enclosure. We had been waiting for them to settle in, gain confidence, feel secure and safe before swapping areas with Cosmo. Moving the cats around allows for them to experience new smells and sights, it is a great form of enrichment. Now that they have settled in, we hve a chance to swap them in every few days. Shailoh and Blaze have lots of trees to climb and explore, while Cosmo has the chance to read the scent markings and get to know his neighbours better!

Their new enclosure has been costed up and we will need to raise R200,000, unfortunately the cost of materials increased due to covid, so things are more expensive now. We are currently fundraising to build Blaze and Shailoh their own permanant enclosure, our fundraiser currently stands at just over R82,000.00! This is incredible and means that we can already begin to purchase materials and start the building process. But we are still in need for funds to be able to finish building their new forever home. We would be grateful if you could share our fundraiser link with your friends and family, every small donation counts!

At last but not at least, we wouldlike to say a BIG THANK YOU for your continous support, we can not express enough how much we appriciate it. Without YOU, we wouldn't be able to do so many thing for our animals.

Volunteer meeting in the morning

Handsome Blaze

Beautiful Shailoh

Blaze and Shailoh's camp had begun!

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