The Tiger Canyons had in excess of 500mm
rainfall in the 2006 season. The Paaiskloof river
which runs through the property is flowing strongly with
several beautiful swimming pools for the tigers.
Seatao & Shadow
The two young cubs swim regularly even at
temperatures of -1°C. At just 6 weeks old, they swam across
a dam measuring 250m wide.
The thick acacia thickets and swampland
along the Paaiskloof river makes ideal training grounds for
the new cubs.
The male is called Seatao, a combination of
Sean and Tao (my two boys) and the female is called Shadow.
At just
8 weeks old, Seatao achieved his first kill, a cape hare.
I have changed the training method
slightly for Seatao and Shadow. Instead of the hands-on
personal method we used with Ron and Julie. I am fencing off
a 200ha area stocked with game and allowing them to catch
their own prey within the enclosure.
At the end of the experiment, we will be
able to compare the two methods from a cost, efficiency and
safety point of view.
Both Seatao and Shadow are white gene
carriers, as are Ron and Julie. Therefore a mating between Ron
and Shadow & Seatao and Julie could produce the first free-ranging white tiger cub in the wilds.
We will be quick to research whether the
white cub is at a disadvantage when hunting.
I am experimenting with cub substutition
- read more...
This involves putting a cub from different
parents into a litter. Unknowingly, the mother raises a cub
which is not her own.
If successful, this has huge possibilities
for wild situations where tigers are unable to disperse and
therefore inbreeding occurs. Cub substitution could help
maintain genetic diversity in isolated wild populations.
Another exciting experiment is the testing
of a repulse collar. The method involves placing an adapted
collar on a domestic animal. When the tiger approaches
within a certain distance of the animal, an electric shock
registers from an implant in the tiger, effectively turning
the tiger away.
If this method is successful, then fences,
domestic stock and even people living or working in
potential conflict areas can be wired for safety.
At Tiger Canyons, it opens up tourist
possibilities for guests viewing tigers on foot provided
they are wearing the necessary safety collar.
If the method can be made effective, it has
application for tigers, lion, jaguars, leopard and even
smaller predators like caracal and jackal.
I am in my 6th year in the Karoo of
South Africa. Everyday it reminds me of the Serengeti in
Tanzania and Masai Mara in Kenya where I spent 22 years.
The change of land use back to wildlife is
living proof that if you fence in a large ecosystem that
relies on isolated rain storms and mobility of wildlife, you
kill it stone dead. It is proof that, if you work in partnership with
nature, it rewards you richly.
Kenyan and Tanzanian conservationists and
politicians should visit the Karoo and see how a
productive system that operates under a migratory system, can be killed by wire fences.
South African conservationists and
politicians could do well to look at the “Tiger Canyons
Experiment” as examples of how a large
“Serengeti of the South” could and should be created and at
least a part of the once great springbuck migrations and
diversity of wildlife that once graced these areas be
recreated.
As I move into my 7th year of tiger
conservation, one thing is for certain - there will be plenty
of unexpected and unforeseen situations in the future.
There always are when tigers are involved.
