July 2000 - 8'48"

0.02

Namibia’s cheetahs - on the brink of extinction.

Namibia - a land proud of ist beauty and unspoiled countryside. Ist vast expanses cover a total of 825,000 square km - around 4 times the size of the UK. It is one of the most sparsely populated countries on the planet with just 1.7 million people, 6 percent of whom are white.This south-west African country is one of the wealthiest of the continent along with neighbouring South Africa. The fate of the two countries has always been linked, so it is little wonder that the economic slump in South Africa has been causing some hardship to the former German colony. Locals use the expression ‘when South Africa has a cold, Namibia sneezes’

0.50 ( shot of cows)

Falling meat prices have caused cattle farmers a great deal of worry, as agriculture is one of the greatest sources of income, bringing in even more than tourism. As meat prices fall, the battle against wild predators has been stepped up considerably. Lions no longer pose a threat to farmers - they have been wiped out on farming land. A similar fate is now threatening cheetahs, because they hunt sheep, goats and calves.

1.19 (shot of frightened cow)

Hundreds of cheetahs are doomed to a cruel and painful death each year because farmers have to defend their cattle.

1.31 (shot heard)

They are captured, shot dead or poisoned. Farmers claim that the big cats cause far too much damage.

1.40

Austrian farmer Joseph Schubert emigrated here nine years ago. He now owns 1300 cattle.

I/V

1.49

Joseph Schubert, farmer

On our land we only really have one enemy to speak of - that’s the cheetah. They are a menace, especially for the newly born calves.

Cheetahs kill for fun. They tear their prey apart, leave it lying there when they’ve had their fill and strike again - they can savage several calves in one day. And if we have just a few cheetah families on the farm, we’re talking about big losses in the cattle industry.

2.16

The farmers are always finding carcasses abandoned by the cheetahs, and they make no bones of getting rid of the unpopular felines.

2.26

I/V Schubert

We hunt them and keep them in cages - sometimes they are sold, but we also hunt and shoot them. Farmers do it to keep their numbers down. We have to keep them under control, and the fewer there are, the fewer we hunt.

2.45

Most farmers daren’t admit that they kill cheetahs, knowing full well that they are a worldwide endangered species. There are only a few still living in Iran and Pakistan, and in North Africa they are no more than a legend. In sub-Saharan Africa they have been chased out by man. The national parks offer some refuge, but there they have to contend with lions - a natural enemy which kills their young.

95 per cent of cheetahs die before they are a year old. Most of the 12 000 remaining cheetahs in the world have retreated to Namibia. Their natural competitors, such as lions, hyenas and almost all leopards have already been wiped out by farmers there, leaving only one enemy - man.

3.34

American biologist Laurie Marker has decided to make the cheetah’s cause her own.

3.40 I/V

Laurie Marker, from the wildlife protection organisation ‘The cheetah foundation’

Worldwide, farmers kill predators. We have to show farmers that cheetahs and cattle really can live side by side, without them having to kill all the cheetahs. The cheetahs are dependent on the farmers for their survival. Some farmers have already become quite involved - and they realise that they are the custodians for the world’s cheetahs.

4.04

Laurie Marker has few friends among Namibian farmers. But some of them support her foundation. Instead of killing the cheetahs, they hold them in captivity. Yet this too causes problems as cheetahs are extremely sensitive. The world’s fastest creature on land suffers from afflictions caused by inbreeding.

4,25 I/V

Their genetics won’t cause extinction - only humans can be responsible for that. It’s up to us to decide on the fate of the species - whether they survive or become extinct in the next generation. As humans, we have that power.

4.46

One of Laurie Marker’s comrades-in-arms is the vet Ulf Tubbesing. He is working on a scientific project which focuses on the cheetah’s genetics.

4.57

We think that for some unexplained reason cheetahs became almost extinct around 10,000 years ago.As a consequence of this most of them originate from just a handful of cheetahs.

I/V 5.09

Dr Ulf Tubbesing, vet

In my experiments I’ve examined leopards and lions and well as cheetahs, and comparing them shows that the other big cats are much less susceptible to illness and eye lesions than cheetahs.

Cheetahs have a very low resistance to disease, and are often adversely affected by foreign bodies in their environment, whether it is intruders in the bush or pathogenes.

5,39

Over a hundred cheetahs on different farms are under the vet’s supervision.They all need intensive veterinary care in captivity due to their high susceptibility to disease.

5,50

vet

I really enjoy my wildlife work - it’s more like a hobby really. I don’t have time to fit it into my normal working day - it’s very time-consuming. I still have my surgery to run, and treating pets like cats and dogs is much more lucrative for me than running around here trying to stun cheetahs so I can treat them. I have agreed to do it at cost price, which may not make business sense but it’s a little bit extra. I couldn’t take more money for it anyway - sometimes you have to follow what your heart tells you to.

6.33

Inbreeding leads to various problems and ailments, such as deformities of the spine and teeth.

6.40

Here’s an exposed root - this animal would be a dentist’s dream! I think we’ll have to file that tooth down....

I/V 7.00

vet

It normally takes them 5-10 minutes to come round after an injection

7.09

We can’t be complacent about the fact that we have a healthy number of cheetahs here in Namibia - the cheetah as a species is dying out rapidly in West Africa, so it’s of paramount importance that we do what we can to keep them alive. Namibian cheetahs may well be needed to re-settle the species into other parts of Africa and the world.

7.36

3000 cheetahs still live in Namibia. In the eighties there were twice as many, so it was crucial that Namibia’s government did something about it. Only 180 cheetahs can be shot legally per year. But the hidden figures are much higher.

7.52

This taxidermist alone stuffs more than 120 wild cats per year for hunters from all over the world.

8.02

Monfred Gorn, taxidermist

Nowadays, if you’re going to kill a wild animal for a lot of money, then you give it some serious thought about what to do with the fur - have it turned into a rug, have it tanned, or have it fully stuffed and mounted, which I think is nicer if you’ve got room for it - and it always keeps ist value.

8.20

In the meantime, farmers have discovered that there is good money to be made by handing over dead cheetahs. They are paid up to US$ 1,000 per animal. The wildlife protection authorities of the Namibian government want to step in - the controlled trade in cheetahs is being seriously discussed as as a means of protecting them.

8.38

Money is clearly the only thing which makes the survival of the earth’s species worthwhile to ist greediest of all - mankind.