Home The Guesthouse The Lodge Volunteering Get involved Car Hire Wildlife Filming Investor Sign up Donation Shop

A conservation project in Namibia
Make a donation: donationsnaankuse@iway.na


 
   
     
 
We rely on the generous donations and support of volunteers and supporters to continue our vital work with vulnerable animals and people.
 
     
  LUCKY THE CHEETAH'S STORY  
     
 
A lucky escape

Our new female cheetah cub may be only about nine months old, but already she has had a lifetime of experiences and is starring in an advert for Volkswagen! This is Lucky the cheetah's story. Lucky the cheetah

In January this year, N/a’an ku sê received a call from a farm in the East of Namibia who had caught a pair of cheetah cubs - a brother and sister. They had been caught back in November as the farmer wanted to tame the cubs, but he found that they were already too old.

The cubs were brought to the farm and immediately we could see that the female had very swollen toes on her back leg and was limping slightly. The brother had been caught in a box trap but his sister had been caught using an archaic and potentially lethal steel jaw gin trap. The cubs were put into one of the temporary enclosures with another four orphan cheetahs of about the same age. Our female cheetah came to be called Lucky for having lived through her barbaric capture.

Rudie darted Lucky to have a closer look at her injury; there was a hole in her foot where you could see right through to her bones. Rudie stitched up as much as he could and bandaged up her leg. Our vet was called out to take a look and decided she needed to go into the clinic in Windhoek. Here, her foot was x-rayed and it was discovered that where the ligaments had been so badly torn and were pulled away from the bone, it would be impossible to save her foot. Had Lucky been brought to us immediately upon capture it may have been a different story. As it was, Ian had no choice but to amputate. Her whole back leg needed to be removed; if just the foot was removed she would continue to use the remaining stump as a leg and her hips would not develop properly.

Example of a gin trap X-ray of Lucky's foot before amputation Lucky's first operation

The operation went smoothly and our three legged cheetah has coped remarkably well. Sadly for Lucky, she cannot go back into the wild as with only three legs and no mother to protect her, her chances of survival would be incredibly slim. Thankfully, she is in the minority as the vast majority of the cheetahs and leopards who come to N/a’an ku sê are soon released back to the wild.

Lucky's young life is now set for fame as she is the star of Volkswagens new car commercial. This is a great opportunity to let the public know about our conservation efforts as well as helping to provide funds to enable us to continue our carnivore conservation and research project and release more animals back to the wild.
Find out the filming of the VW ad and how you can help animal's like Lucky.

See pictures of Lucky the cheetah on our I love N/a’an ku sê Facebook fan page. 		 
     
     

N/a’an ku sê get involved | N/a’an ku sê volunteer project | N/a’an ku sê Charity Lodge | N/a’an ku sê Guesthouse
N/a’an ku sê 4x4 vehicle hire | N/a’an ku sê investor villas | N/a’an ku sê wildlife filming
Contact us | Site map | Website maintained by CWeb
top
Free Hit Counter