Cheetah Outreach
This is such a brilliant idea - ensuring that cheetahs and farmers in southern Africa can live in harmony by finding non-lethal methods of protecting livestock by using dogs to protect farmer's herds of mainly sheep and goats.
Initially run as a programme in Namibia by the Cheetah Conservation Fund, a trial programme was launched by De Wildt's Wild Cheetah Management Project (WCMP) and Cheetah Outreach in 2005 to introduce the idea to serve farmers in South Africa
The two breeds used for the work are the:
Anatolian Shepherd
The Turkish Anatolian shepherd, bred to protect livestock from bears and wolves, has a history of over 6,000 years in the arid Anatolian Plateau region of Turkey, an area of little rain, extreme heat in summer and cold in winter, much like parts of southern Africa. These dogs are physically imposing; males are normally 60+ cm at the shoulder and weigh 70-75 kg. They can reach a top speed of 75 km/h and go days with minimal food and water when necessary
Lesotho Maluti
The Lesotho Highland Dog, also known as a Maluti, is an indigenous African dog that has been used to guard livestock in Lesotho. They have proven very effective in guarding small stock such as goats and sheep roaming over vast, rugged terrain.
Since the programme was implemented, Anatolian guard dogs have been placed on farms in cheetah range in Limpopo and North West Provinces, where they have reduced livestock losses from 95 to 100%. Though mostly used to guard sheep and goats, for the first time in southern Africa, some dogs have been used to successfully guard cattle and some are now guarding wild game such as springbok and nyala.
