No sign of missing cheetah

IT REMAINED unclear yesterday if Njozi the cheetah escaped from the Rietvlei Nature Reserve or is roaming the vast acres of land.

Questions have also been raised as to whether the animal may have died.

These questions have boggled the minds of wildlife experts and other interested parties after they lost contact with the animal’s tracking device.

Vincent van der Merwe of the Endangered Wildlife Trust said, as things stood, they did not know if she was inside or outside the nature reserve.

On Tuesday, reports emerged that Njozi had escaped under a fence, possibly in pursuit of a waterbuck, whose carcass was found outside, not too far from the perimeters of the enclosure.

“No one is entirely sure if and how she came out, if she did. She is wearing an African wildlife tracking collar which has meanwhile stopped working. But she might not have escaped,” he said.

“Yes there have been reports of sightings in the area she could possibly be in, but no evidence has been submitted. So we cannot say for sure she is out there.”

Emphasising she might not have escaped, Van der Merwe said the broken fence and the buck lying close by fed into public perception, but there was no evidence.

Njozi was last seen a month ago, he said.

She roamed freely inside the enclosure since October last year.

The cheetah was let loose to freely hunt and acclimatise after being brought from the Western Cape.

She could be alive, outside Rietvlei, and similarly she could be roaming inside as she had gotten used to, Van der Merwe said. “Or she could be dead.”

Van der Merwe said the wilderness had its perils. “She could have suffered the kick of a zebra, or a buck could have stuck its horn into her side. So yes, the chance that she is dead exists.”

As the hunt for the cheetah continued, with community members joining conservation champions and the reserve staff, and as helicopters and microlights hovered above, a cheetah was spotted near the fishing area on Wednesday.

This was just outside the reserve boundaries, giving hope that Njozi could be found.

“A cheetah can disappear easily in and around the reserve,” said Van der Merwe, adding the search would continue, hope would be held, but room for disappointment would also be maintained.