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Recommendations for the rehabilitation and release of wild-born, captive-raised cheetahs: the importance of pre- and post-release management for optimizing survival


E LI H. WALKER ,S TIJN VERS CHUERE N ANNE S CHMI D T-KÜNTZEL and L AU R I E MARKER


Abstract Large carnivores are frequently released for conser- vation purposes, but early efforts struggled with inadequate monitoring and reporting, resulting in poor understanding of success. Although managers have improved release prac- tice and monitoring, the use of orphaned, captive-raised large carnivores for release remains controversial because of the potential influence of captivity and the possible lack of natural behaviours in such individuals. Yet, rehabilitating or- phaned individuals for release could help mitigate pressures on vulnerable wild populations. We present a case study on the rearing, rehabilitation and release of wild-born cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus that were rescued as orphans in Namibia. Our aim was to develop a methodological framework for cheetah release planning and post-release management based on the outcome of release trials conducted during 2004–2018.Between 2001 and 2012,werescued 86 orphaned cheetahs from the wild. Of these, 36 (42%) were selected as release candidates. We found high success rates (75–96%) of selected individuals in achieving independence post-re- lease.Additionally, annual survival estimates for rehabilitated individuals that reached independence were comparable to those of wild counterparts described by other studies, and some rehabilitated individuals reproduced with wild con- specifics. Our findings demonstrate the ability of wild-born, captive-raised cheetahs to transition back into the wild with strategic pre- and post-release management directed towards optimizing survival. This includes selecting appropriate release candidates, forming artificial coalitions, balancing habituation levels during captivity, choosing appropriate release sites, and providing strategic support during post-release monitoring. We encourage scientists and managers to implement and re- fine our protocol for rehabilitation throughout the cheetah’s current and historic range.


Keywords Captive-raised, cheetah, large carnivore, post- release monitoring, rehabilitation, reintroduction, release, translocation


ELI H. WALKER (Corresponding author,


STIJN VERSCHUEREN ( orcid.org/0000-0003-1420-7689), ANNE SCHMIDT-KÜNTZEL (


orcid.org/0000-0001-5108-2606) and LAURIE MARKER (


orcid.org/0000-0003-4946-7122), orcid.org/0000-


0002-1636-2191, director@cheetah.org) Cheetah Conservation Fund, PO Box 1755, Otjiwarongo, Namibia


Received 12 June 2020. Revision requested 6 August 2020. Accepted 5 February 2021. First published online 15 February 2022.


Supplementary material for this article is available at doi.org/10.1017/S0030605321000235


Introduction


gorization as Vulnerable in most of Africa and Critically Endangered in north-west Africa and Iran (Durant et al., 2015). Namibia is a stronghold for the cheetah and possibly holds .25% of the estimated global cheetah population (Marker et al., 2018a,b)of 7,100 adult and adolescent indi- viduals (Durant et al., 2015). In Namibia, 90%of the cheetah population lives outside protected areas and occupies live- stock and game farmlands, resulting in a high risk of loss as a result of human–wildlife conflict (Morsbach, 1987; Marker-Kraus et al., 1996; Marker et al., 2007, 2018a,b). The Cheetah Conservation Fund rescues cheetahs through- out Namibia orphaned as a result of human–wildlife conflict and, where possible, helps rescued cheetahs transition back into the wild. The release of cheetahs and other large carnivores for


T


conservation purposes (rehabilitation, reintroduction and reinforcement translocation, hereafter referred to as ‘release’) is not a new practice and numerous releases have occurred across Africa (Hayward et al., 2007; Marnewick et al., 2009; Houser et al., 2011; Weise et al., 2015; Boast et al., 2018). Previously, release efforts of cheetahs were hindered by issues with design and decision-making, lack of monitoring, and inadequate reporting (Boast et al., 2018). However, im- proved knowledge and expertise garnered from continual effort and improved pre- and post-release management has led to high levels of success (Marnewick et al., 2009;Buk et al., 2018;Vebber etal., 2020). The release of captive-bred or captive-raised individuals


presents an added layer of difficulty as such individuals have shown poor survival post-release (Jule et al., 2008;Hunter& Rabinowitz, 2009). This has mainly been attributed to these animals lacking natural behaviours associated with survival, foraging success and reproductive fitness (Snyder et al., 1996; Vickery & Mason, 2003). Yet, the few studies that documented successful cheetah rehabilitations found that post-release ranging and prey selection behaviour were


This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Oryx, 2022, 56(4), 495–504 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321000235


he global decline in cheetah Acinonyx jubatus popu- lations has led to their current IUCN Red List cate-


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