Tupuka’s Story In late August, a male cheetah was picked up at a farm near Cheetah Conservation Fund’s (CCF) Centre in Namibia, after being trapped by a farmer. While the cheetah had only been hunting wild game, like impalas, he was getting closer to the kraal with the farmer’s calves. Staff from Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) brought the cheetah to our clinic for an exam. He was healthy, weighing 42 kilograms (or approximately 93 pounds), and was estimated to be approximately 4 to 5 years old. While at CCF, hair and blood samples were taken, and the cheetah was vaccinated against rabies. He was also fitted with a tracking collar. 

The farmer who trapped the male cheetah agreed to join CCF’s Early Warning System (EWS) program. The program uses GPS satellite collars equipped with geofencing functions. A virtual fence corresponding to the boundaries of the farmer’s land is programmed into the GPS unit. Whenever the collar detects a ‘breach,’ the farmer is alerted. Receiving these early alerts allows the farmer to use non-lethal methods to prevent any potential threats to livestock, allowing humans and cheetahs to coexist. 

Namibia is home to the planet’s largest wild cheetah population - but most of the country’s cheetahs live outside protected areas. Instead, these cats habit communal and commercial farmlands, sharing the landscape with human communities - and domestic animals. Today, innovative approaches - like the EWS system for farmers – are helping humans and large predators, like cheetahs, coexist in these shared landscapes. 

The cheetah was released in mid-September on CCF property, near the farm where the cat was originally captured. The farmer and his family decided to name the cheetah – and they chose ‘Tupuka,’ which means ‘to run’ in Herero. 

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