Big Dogs Are Namibia’s Secret To Preserve Endangered Big Cats

Namibia has been using a new approach to address the declining population of its big cats. They are employing large dog breeds to act as guardians of livestock to prevent the loss of cheetah lives.

CNN reported that one of the major factors that used to contribute to the decline of cheetah population in the Southwest African country was the ranchers' practice of trapping and killing the animals to prevent causing problems in their farmlands. Cheetahs, the world's fastest land animal, would usually stray outside the boundaries of protected areas and invade nearby farms as they require vast lands to roam by nature.

In the past, Namibian farmers thought that there was no other solution but to kill the animals in order to protect their livestock. This practice has been one of the major reasons why the population of Africa's most endangered big cats declined by 90 percent over the past years.

"We had to, there was no other way," said Andries Pretorius, a Namibian farmer. "We shot them on a fairly big scale... It was the only way, because you have to make a living... we lost a lot of cattle and sheep."

In an attempt to address the declining cheetah populations, Namibia's Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) has tried to change the farmers' thinking by introducing livestock guarding dogs as deterrence against cheetah invasion. According to the Wildlife Conservation Network, the approach uses imported big dogs, particularly Kangal dogs and Anatolian shepherds, to guard farms and reduce conflict between cheetahs and livestock farmers.

"They are a big dog and basically act as a guardian," CCF founder Laurie Marker explained. "They bark loudly and go out with the herds... They say 'We are here, this is my flock' and the predators stay away."

Markie said that the impact has been good since the use of livestock guard dogs was introduced. She cited that livestock losses of Namibian farmers, who employed big dogs to drive away big cats, have been reduced by 80 to 100 percent.