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An
Anatolian Shepherd dog guards a herd of goats at the Cheetah
Conservation Fund center
in Otjiwarongo, Namibia (AFP, Jennifer Bruce)
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GOBABIS,
Namibia / Omaheke Region — Winding through the parched Namibian farmland,
Bonzo, an Anatolian shepherd dog, has a singular focus: protecting his herd of
goats from lurking predators.
He pads
along, sniffing the air and marking the scrubby landscape, just like a
bodyguard ready to ward off any threat to his charges, which he considers
family.
"They're
not pets. They're not allowed to be pets," said Bonzo's owner farmer Retha
Joubert.
The breed
descends from ancient livestock dogs used thousands of years ago in what is now
central Turkey. And they not only save sheep and goats, but have handed a
lifeline to Namibia's decimated cheetah numbers by reducing conflicts between
farmers and predators.
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A cheetah
lies at The Cheetah Conservation
Fund center in Otjiwarongo, Namibia,
on August
13, 2013 (AFP, Jennifer Bruce)
|
"It's
a non-lethal predator control method so it is green, it's happy, it's
win-win."
The concept
is simple.
The dogs
are placed with a flock when a few weeks old to bond with the livestock. They
live permanently with the animals, loyally heading out with them every day to
deter hunters, and bedding down with them at night.
Marker's
centre started breeding the livestock dogs to promote cheetah-friendly farming
after some 10,000 big cats -- the current total worldwide population -- were
killed or moved off farms in the 1980s.
Up to 1,000
cheetahs were being killed a year, mostly by farmers who saw them as livestock
killers.
But the use
of dogs has slashed losses for sheep and goat farmers and led to less
retaliation against the vulnerable cheetah.
"We
see about 80 to 100 percent decrease of livestock loss from any predator when
the farmers have the dogs," said Marker.
In the last
19 years, around 450 dogs have been placed with farmers and more than 3,000
farmers trained.
There is
now a two-year waiting list for the dogs -- either stately Anatolian shepherds
or Kangals -- and the programme has expanded to other countries with predators.
For
Joubert, staying up late at night worrying about her sheep and goats coming
home is a thing of the past.
Her farm
near Gobabis, east of the capital Windhoek, lost 60 animals in 2008.
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An
Anatolian Shepherd dog and two goats
sit at The Cheetah Conservation Fund in
Otjiwarongo, Namibia, August 13, 2013
(AFP, Jennifer Bruce)
|
Joubert is
now training four-month-old Kangal !Nussie -- whose name starts with the
exclamation point typical of Namibia's Nama people -- to follow in Bonzo's
footsteps.
The
fluffy-coated pup is learning the ropes by going out with a flock every day on
a leash with a human herder and beds down in the animal enclosure at night. She
gets half an hour in the evening to play in the yard.
"She
must associate herself with the goats, she must be a goat, she's part of a
group, that's the main thing I think to make them to protect the animals,"
said Joubert, who is deeply proud of her dogs.
The dogs'
presence and intimidating bark is usually enough to deter predators, who would
rather opt for prey that does not have a guardian.
But they
will attack if a hunter does not back off.
Bonzo for
example, has killed jackals, who attack in packs and a young, weak cheetah.
"If
indeed they do come in, the dog could and would fight to the finish," said
Marker.
Altercations
between the dogs and cheetahs, though, are rare and those who target livestock
are usually desperate, such as being wounded.
But working
in Namibia's tough landscape takes its toll.
Bonzo has
been bitten by snakes, stung by a scorpion, attacked by baboons and now has
tongue cancer from exposure to the relentless sun.
Ironically,
despite cheetahs being seen as livestock killers, analysis of their droppings
has shown only five percent had preyed on farm animals.
 |
Anatolian
Shepherd dog Bonzo leads
goats on a farm near near Gobabis, east
of the capital
Windhoek, on August 15,
2013 (AFP, Jennifer Bruce)
|
"But
the perception that any cheetah is going to start killing livestock as its main
diet is very wrong."
Cheetah
numbers hit a low of 2,500 in 1986. But the population has now potentially
reached nearly 4,000 -- the biggest wild cheetah population in the world.
Cheetahs
still face threats on game ranches, where they eat valuable animals, and on
cattle farms where the dogs are not suited.
But for
small stock farmers, they have proven their worth.
"For
the type of livestock farming that's going on in Namibia, it's definitely one
of the most promising solutions that they have," said Potgieter, who used
to manage the CCF's dog programme.
In Gobabis,
Joubert, needs no convincing.
"I will
always have dogs here," she said.
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