Cape Town – The profits of Taylor Swift’s latest music video will go to African conservation, the Hollywood superstar’s video states.

“Wildest Dreams,” the newest Swift song, debuted at the Video Music Awards (VMA) Awards on Sunday, 30 August, and has already been viewed almost 20 million times on YouTube at the time of publishing.

The video concludes with a disclaimer saying, “All of Taylor’s proceeds for this video will be donated to wild animal conservation efforts through the African Parks Foundation of America”.

The video was mostly shot around Maun, Botswana, while the elephant scenes were shot at Meno a Kwena, also in Botswana. Shooting only finished last week, just in time for the VMAs.

Many of the scenes with Swift were added into the wildlife scenes later on.

Regardless of the charity the video supports, Swift has been criticised for fueling a highly westernised stereotype of Africa. The video resembles an old 1950s Utopian view of an ‘African safari’ and many critics have labelled it as racist, saying it romanticizes a white, colonialist Africa.

The African Parks Foundation of America partners with governments throughout Africa to handle the management of parks like Akagera in Rwanda, Garamba in Congo, and Zakouma in Chad.

Talle jagluiperds word oor die land heen as toeristetrekpleister aangehou. Maar die getal aanvalle wat voorkom, wys hulle is minder mak as wat hierdie ‘cheetah-ervaring-plekke ons wil wysmaak.

Dis is nie maklik om aan knaende joernaliste te verduidelik hoe- kom mak jagluiperds mense byt nie. Daar- om beny ek Clarke Smith, woord- voerder van KwaCheetah, nie sy werk nie.

Op 6 Augustus is ‘n twiet uitge- stuur wat st Aiden Fry, ‘n leerling van Cowan House Preparatory School, is aan die skouer gebyt toe ‘n jagluiperd by KwaCheetah teen die heining gespring en hom gegryp het. ‘n Oproep na die skoolhoof, Rob Odell, het dit dui- delik gemaak dié is nie bereid om oor die voorval te praat nie.

 Vyf dae later, ml verdere na- vraag, was daar ‘n verklaring van Smith, wat ook een van die direk- teure is van die Nambiti-wildre- servaat naby Ladysmith, waar KwaCheetah gehuisves word. Die verklaring lui dat die kat die seun se rug bygekom het, en hom ge- krap en gebyt het. Die seun is be- handel en is op die dag van die verklaring weer terug skool toe.

 Luidens die verklaring het geen jagluiperd van die projek voor- heen sulke gedrag getoon nie en kinders word nie in enige van die kampe toegelaat nie.

Volgens dr. Andrew Venter, wie se kind in dieselfde skool is, kan die mediese onkoste ml die voor- val R200 OOO beloop.

Maar dit eindig nie daar nie, st hy. Die dag voordat die kind ge- byt is, is ‘n 73-jarige vrou, Glen Dixon, en haar kleinkind by Kwa- Cheetah aangeval. Die vrou is teen die grond gegooi en aan haar arm en kop gebyt. Die kat se tande het haar skedel binnege- dring.

Volgens haar seun, Brett, is haar heup gebreek toe sy geval het. Met die skryf hiervan, is sy in die hoésorgeenheid.

“Ons is natuurlik vreeslik be- kommerd oor haar. Hierdie ding gaan haar lewe vir altyd veran- der,” st Brett.

Daar is meer: Dit blyk dat nog ‘n besoeker aan KwaCheetah, Lesley-Ann Marais op 28 Junie aan haar arm gebyt is tydens ‘n interaksie met die katte. Sy moes steke kry.

Toe ek die voorvalle aan Smith noem, het hy ingestem dat die vroeere verklaring ontoereikend was. Hy het ‘n nuwe een uitgereik wat die feit ingesluit het van ‘n “ouer dame wat omgegooi is deur dieselfde jagluiperd in die besig- tigingskamp”. Dit het ook genoem dat ‘n “vroulike besoeker ‘n krap aan haar arm en vlak bytmerke van ‘n ander jagluiper ” opge- doen het.

Die gedrag is, luidens die ver- klaring “strook glad nie met die aard van die betrokke jagluiperd en word ondersoek”. Die projek is ook nou gesluit terwyl die voor- valle bekyk word.

 KwaCheetah het duidelik pro- bleme met knabbelende jaglui- perds en Smith is heldhaftig besig met skadebeheer.

Toe maak ‘n kommerwekkende verslag oor ‘n luiperd sy opwag- ting. ‘n Informant wat nie haar naam genoem wil he nie, het e-pos (met foto’s) aangestuur van ‘n interaksie op die terrein.

 “Ons was in 2012 by KwaChee- tah met ons familie. Hulle het jag- luiperds, rooikatte, tierboskatte en luiperds in die kampe gehad. Die luiperds en jagluiperds was op die oog af ongemaklik met al die besoekers.

 “Die hanteerder was bekom- merd oor die luiperd, so hy het ‘n harnas soos vir ‘n hond aan die kat gesit voordat hy mense in- genooi het om aan hom te raak.

 “My familie wou nie ingaan nie, want hulle was bekommerd dat die kinders aangeval sou word. Die luiperd het herhaaldelik die hanteerder probeer bykom, en die het hom met ‘n kussing ge- slaan.

 “Die dier het erger geraak en die hanteerder het die paartjies in die kamp gevra om te gaan. Die hanteerder was erg omgekrap deur die hele ding en hy het ons vertel hy was van plan om die volgende dag weg te gaan.

“Hy se hy het sy base herhaal- delik vertel hy is ongelukkig met die situasie, maar hulle het gese alles is in die haak en hy moet voortgaan om besoekers in die kamp te neem.”

Met ‘n paar Google-soektogte het ‘n YouTube-video aan die lig gekom van ‘n jong toeris wat voor ‘n jagluiperd uithardloop en ‘n kartonboks sleep. Die titel van die video, gemaak deur die Ame- rikaner John Watson van Volun- teer South Africa, is “Getting Chased by Cheetahs”.

 “Dis ‘n ervaring sonder gelyke,” se hy. “Dis ‘n plek waar vrywilli- gers met jagluiperds kan rond- hang terwyl hulle in die natuur hervestig word.”

“Ek haat troetelplase,” se Wat- son vir die kamera, “maar hierdie is ten bate van die diere. Dit gaan ‘n “Mak” jagluiperd. regtig daaroor om ‘n verskil te maak.” En daar praat hy van Kwa- Cheetah.

Hy was beslis nie daarvan be- wus dat jagluiperds, soos alle roofdiere, geprogrammeer is om te jaag nie, en die verskil tussen ‘n kartondoos en ‘n sagte, pienk naelloper is bitter klein uit die oogpunt van ‘n jagluiperd.

 Volgens Smith se mediaverkla- ring is KwaCheetah in 2011 begin om bewaring van die bedreigde jagluiperds in Suider-Afrika te bevorder. Op hul webwerf skryf die eienaars “die hoofdoel is nie om jagluiperds aan dieretuine en soortgelyke plekke te verkoop nie, maar om die katte in die wil- dernis van Afrika te hervestig”.

Maar volgens ‘n bron het Kwa- Cheetah al die afgelope vier jaar nie die nodige permitte om jaglui- perds aan te hou of in die natuur te hervestig nie, al is dit kwansuis die hoofdoel van sy bestaan.

Die aanvalle het uiteindelik die KwaZulu-Natalse owerheid die afgelope week tot optrede aange- spoor. Alle kommersiéle bedry- wighede op die terrein is stopgesit.

Ek het probeer om hieroor dui- delikheid te kry by die eienaar van KwaCheetah, Rob le Sueuer. Hy se hy neem alle oproepe op, want hy wil nie he woorde moet in sy mond gele word nie en hy is allermins bereid om die kwessie te bespreek.

Om by al die regulasies oor in- teraksies met jagluiperd te hou, is ‘n kopseer. Volgens die KwaZulu- Natalse standaardprosedure vir wilde diere in ‘n rehabilitasiesen- trum, mag die diere glad nie aan die publiek vertoon word nie en niemand behalwe personeellede mag met hulle in kontak kom nie.

Voorts mag geen dier langer aangehou word as wat absoluut nodig is om die dier in die natuur te hervestig nie. Diere mag nie fisiek in toom gehou word nie. “Geen kettings, toue of dergeli- ke”, en geen huisdiere mag op die sentrum se terrein aangehou word nie. Op KwaCheetah se webwerf is daar verskeie foto’s van honde en ander huisdiere wat met die jagluiperds speel.

Help KwaCheetah dus, soos wat Watson aanvoer, regtig met bewaring?

 ‘n Verslag deur die Trust vir Bedreigde Natuurlewe (EWT) laat dit nie so lyk nie. Twee wyfie-jag- luiperds wat wild gebore is, is met die hand grootgemaak en toe teen sowat R400 000 deur die EWT en ‘n vennoot “wild ge- maak” Cre-wilded” is die term wat hulle gebruik). Hulle is toe aan Nambiti gegee om in die re- servaat vrygelaat te word. ‘n Man- netjie is ook teen sowat R100 000 gerehabiliteer en in die reservaat vrygelaat.

Volgens die EWT het hulle in Junie 2012 agtergekom die drie jagluiperds word in werklikheid in aanhouding gehou. Die verslag lui: “Mnr. Le Sueur het glo die jagluiperds vanaf Nambiti ge- bring, waarvan hy mede-eienaar is. Die jagluiperds en hul klein- tjies word aangehou vir geldelike gewin. Die rede is dat leeus hulle in die reservaat bedreig. Die hui- dige permitstelsel in KwaZulu-Natal laat nie toe dat wilde diere na aanhouding verplaas word nie.”

 Kelly Marnewick, EWT se be- stuurder van roofdier-bewaring, st die aanvalle verbaas haar glad nie. “Geen wilde jagluiperd het nog mense aangeval nie. Maar jagluiperds in aanhouding kan baie gevaarlik wees omdat hulle hul vrees vir mense verloor het.”

Die onlangse dokumentér Blood Lions laat geen twyfel oor die ver- band tussen troetelplase vir klein- tjies en die uiteindelike dood van leeus in geblikte jag en die ver- koop van hul bene vir Chinese “tierbeenwyn” nie.

Jagluiperds wat in aanhouding geteel is, volg ‘n ander lewens- pad, minder grusaam, maar word net soveel uitgebuit. Anders as leeus, is jagluiperds betreklik maklik om mak te maak (hoewel onmoontlik om tot troeteldier te maak) en dit maak hulle aantrek- lik vir menslike interaksie.

Die konvensie oor die interna- sionale handel in bedreigde spesies (Cites) klaSSifiseer jagluiperds as ‘n hoogs bedreigde spesie.

Daar is minder as 1000 jagluiperds in Suid-Afrika oor, met ‘n paar honderd wat aangehou word in 79 aanhoudingsplekke. Aanhouding en teel geskied onder die vaandel van bewaring en opvoeding. Die publiek word vertel die jagluiperds sal weer vrygelaat word of dat teling die spesie terugbring van die rand van uitwissing.

Volgens Marnewick is daar bit- ter min sentrums wat regstreeks betrokke is by bewaringswerk wat ‘n voordeel inhou vir die oorbly- wende wilde jagluiperds. Die res het slegs waarde as “opvoedver- maak”. Rehabilitasie behels dat diere vinnig deur die sentrum beweeg sonder enige kontak met toeriste of vrywilligers.

 Jagluiperds in aanhouding bring geld in vir hul eienaars. Dit kos sowat R300 vir ‘n volwasse besoeker om ‘n paar minute met een deur te bring en buitelandse vrywilligers betaal tot $2 OOO per week om te “help rehabiliteer”. Hulle hou gereeld aan om te betaal om “hul” jagluiperd te voer lank nadat hulle terug huis toe is.

 “Daar’s geen bewaringsnood om jagluiperds in aanhouding te teel nie. Dit het geen invloed op die werklike bedreiging nie: jag, ‘n gebrek aan ruimte en verkope aan aanhoudingsplekke. Die re- habilitasiesentrums’ kan ook bewaring skade aandoen deur genetiese wanbestuur (inteling),” se sy.

Om jagluiperds as toeriste-lok- aas te gebruik, is volgens haar on- eties en die teenoorgestelde van bewaring. “Die meeste van hier- die plekke moet gesluit word.”

Die KwaZulu-Natalse owerheid en KwaCheetah sit nou met ‘n ta- meletjie. As die sentrum nie ‘n permit kan bekom om jagluiperds in die natuur te hervestig nie, hoe kan hy sy voortbestaan as “reha- bilitasiesentrum” regverdig?

En as hulle dié permit kry, hoe kan hulle dit regverdig om jagluiperds wat in aanhouding geteel is, in die natuur vry te laat as dit skadelik is vir die bewaring van jagluiperds?

Keeping cheetahs as tourist attractions is widespread in South Africa. But, as a number of attacks have proved, they’re far less tame than ‘cheetah experience’ establishments would have you believe. As a series of attacks have proved, they can be downright dangerous.

Explaining to a persistent journalist why tame cheetahs are biting people is not easy, so I didn’t envy KwaCheetah spokesman Clarke Smith his job.

On 6 August a Tweet said a pupil from Cowan House Preparatory School, Aiden Fry, had been bitten on the shoulder when a cheetah at KwaCheetah launched itself at the fence and grabbed him. A call to the principal, Rob Odell, made it clear he would say nothing about it.

Five days later, following further inquiries, a press release from Smith – who is one of the directors of Nambiti Private Game Reserve near Ladysmith on which KwaCheetah is situated – said a cat had grabbed at the boy’s back, scratching and biting him. It added that the boy was treated and “is back at school today”. It noted that “none of the cheetah at the project has displayed behaviour of this nature before”, and that “children are not allowed in any of the enclosures”.

According to Dr Andrew Venter, whose child is at Aiden’s school, medical bills for the ‘bite and scratch’, could run to R200,000. But, he said, there was more. The day before this incident, a 73-year-old woman, Glen Dixon, and her grandson were attacked at KwaCheetah. The woman was thrown to the ground and bitten on her arm and head, the cat’s teeth puncturing her skull.

According to her son, Brett Dixon, her hip was broken in the fall and she requires reconstructive surgery to her ear. At the time of writing she was in intensive care. “We are of course extremely worried about her,” he said. “This will change her life forever.”

There was still more: it turns out that on 28 June another visitor to KwaCheetah, Lesley-Ann Marais, was bitten on her arm during an interaction. She had to receive stitches.

When I mentioned these attacks to Smith, he agreed the earlier press release was somewhat limited and issued another one which included the fact that “an elderly lady was knocked down by the same cheetah while inside the viewing enclosure” but it did not explain why her grandson was in the enclosure with her. It also mentioned that previously “a lady visitor had her arm scratched and suffered shallow punctures from a nip by a different cheetah”.

It noted that “this behaviour is totally out of character for the individual cheetah and is being investigated”. The project, he said, had now been closed to visitors while the incidents were being investigated.

KwaCheetah was clearly having problems with ‘nipping’ cheetahs and Smith was manfully running damage control. Then came a worrying report about a leopard. An informant, who did not want her name mentioned, e-mailed (with photos) about an interaction at the facility.

“We were at KwaCheetah with our family in 2012. They had cheetah, caracal, serval and a leopard in various enclosures and the cheetah and leopard were clearly agitated by all the visitors. The handler was particularly worried about the leopard so went into his enclosure to put what appeared to be a dog harness on him to control him before inviting people in to pet him.

“My family would not go in because they were worried about the children being attacked, as it kept going for the handler, who hit it with a pillow.

‘The leopard got more and more excited so he asked the few visitors who had gone into the enclosure to leave. The handler was really freaked out by whole situation and told us he was leaving Nambiti the next day.

“He said he had repeatedly told his bosses that he was very unhappy about the situation, but they kept saying it was fine and that he had to continue taking guests into the enclosure.”

Trawling Google for cheetah encounters, a YouTube video came to light which begins with a young tourist sprinting ahead of a cheetah and trailing a cardboard box. The title of the film, made by American John Watson for Volunteer South Africa, is Getting Chased by Cheetahs.

“It’s an experience like no other,” he says, “it’s a place where volunteers can mingle with cheetahs while helping rehabilitate them into the wild.

“I don’t like petting zoos,” Watson comments to camera, “but this is for the benefit of the animals. It’s about truly making a difference.” The facility is KwaCheetah.

He was clearly not aware that, like most predators, cheetahs are programmed to chase what runs and that the difference between a cardboard box and pink sprinting prey, in the mind of a cheetah, is a small one.

According to Smith’s press release, KwaCheetah was established in 2011 to support the conservation of vulnerable cheetah in Southern Africa. The website says “the main goal behind the project is not to sell cheetah to zoos or any other likewise place, but to release our cats back into the African wilderness”.

The release adds that “there are currently at least seven cheetah set to be released into the wild as part of a carefully planned phased release process once the relevant permits, which were applied for some time ago, have been received from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife”.

According to a source, for the past four years, KwaCheetah has not had permits to hold or release cheetah into the wild, its stated primary reason for existence. The attacks seem to have forced KZN Wildlife into action and this week it suspended all commercial operations at the facility.

I tried to get clarity on this from KwaCheetah owner Rob Le Seuer, but he said he was recording the phonecall, was not prepared to have words put into his mouth and was not prepared to discuss the issue.

Complying with regulations, however, is a problem for cheetah encounters. According to KwaZulu-Natal’s standards and procedures for keeping wild animals in captivity in a rehabilitation facility, no animals there may be displayed to the public, or have contact with people other than facility staff.

In addition, no animal may be held in a rehabilitation facility for longer than is required for successful rehabilitation and its return to the wild. It may not be physically restrained “by means of chains, ropes or the like” and no domestic animals are allowed onto the premises of a rehabilitation facility (the KwaCheetah website shows cheetahs playing with dogs and other animals).

So is KwaCheetah, as Watson suggests, truly aiding conservation and making a difference? A report by the Environmental Wildlife Trust (EWT) suggests otherwise. Two wild-born female cheetahs now at the facility were hand-reared then ‘re-wilded’ by EWT and a partner at a cost of around R400,000 and were given to Nambiti for release on the reserve. A male cheetah from a different mother was re-wilded at a cost of around R100,000 and also relocated there.

According to EWT: ‘In June 2012 [we] realised that these three cheetahs had been held in captive conditions by the Rob Le Sueur Cheetah Project [now KwaCheetah]. Mr Le Sueur had reportedly bought the cheetahs from Nambiti – in which he is a part owner. The cheetah and their offspring are currently being utilised for financial gain in a walk, pet and drive with cheetahs initiative. The reason given was that they were being threatened by lions on the reserve. The current permitting system in KwaZulu-Natal does not allow the movement of wild animals into captivity.”

EWT carnivore conservation manager Kelly Marnewick said she was not surprised at the attacks. “Wild cheetahs have never been reported to attack humans,” she said, “but captive ones can be very dangerous, having lost their fear of humans. They are often bored and associate humans with food.”

The recent film Blood Lions leaves no doubt about the cynical relationship between cub petting, walking with young lions and their eventual demise in ‘canned’ hunts, followed by sale of their bones for Asian ‘tiger bone wine’.

Captive-bred cheetahs have a different, less gruesome trajectory, though no less exploitative. Unlike lions, cheetahs are fairly easily tamed in captivity (but never domesticated), making them attractive animals for human interaction. They are currently listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora as threatened with extinction (Appendix 1).

In South Africa there are fewer than 1,000 cheetahs, several hundred of them captive in 79 facilities. Containment and breeding is usually done under the banner of conservation and education. The public are told the cheetahs will be released into the wild or that breeding is bringing the cheetah back from the brink of extinction.

According to Marnewick: “Very few facilities appear to be directly involved with any type of conservation work that directly benefits the free-roaming cheetah population through funding or field projects. The rest appear to have value only in terms of ‘edutainment’. Rehabilitation needs to have cheetahs move through fast and not have tourist or volunteer contact.”

Beyond the cost of meat and housing them, captive cheetahs make money for their captors. It costs around R300 for an adult to spend a few minutes with a cheetah and foreign volunteers can pay between $1,000 and $2000 a week to help ‘rehabilitate’ them by handling them and ‘teaching’ them to hunt. They often continue to pay to feed ‘their’ cheetah after they return home, trusting they are helping to re-wild it.

Marnewick disagrees with the value of their endeavours. “There’s no conservation need for cheetahs to be bred in captivity as they do not address the key threats to cheetahs: persecution, lack of space and sale into captivity. Furthermore, these institutions can have a negative impact on conservation through the sourcing of wild animals to supply captive populations, as well as through the risk of genetic mismanagement (inbreeding,) and providing the wrong conservation message.”

According to Marnewick, using cheetahs as ‘tourist bait’ is unethical and exploitative and antithetical to conservation. “Most of those outfits should be closed down.”

Both KZN Wildlife and KwaCheetah now have a complex conundrum to deal with. If the facility doesn’t get a permit to release cheetahs, can they justify their claim that they’re rehabilitating them?

And if they do, can they justify the release of captive-bred cheetahs into the wild despite the findings of a respected conservation organisation that this would be detrimental to cheetah conservation?