Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC) in cooperation with the Peace Parks Foundation and support from the Ashia Cheetah Conservation, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the Mozambique Wildlife Alliance has re-introduced four cheetahs to the Maputo Special Reserve in southern Mozambique, where the species was wiped out more than 60 years ago. The big cats are currently undergoing an acclimatisation period, before being released into the 104 200 ha reserve, completing this reintroduction of the world’s fastest land mammal. Two male cheetahs were flown in from the &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, whilst an adult female and her sub-adult female cub were flown from the Waterval Private Game Reserve near Kimberley in the Northern Cape.
The reintroduction of the cats into the Maputo Special Reserve is part of an ambitious goal to establish a healthy metapopulation (a group of spatially separated populations of the same species which interact at some level) that contributes to the conservation of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), a species which has been eliminated from 90% of its range in Africa, with an estimated population of only 6 600 individuals remaining.
The Maputo Special Reserve is located on Maputo Bay, approximately 100 kilometers southeast of the city of Maputo, Mozambique. In 2018, the Peace Parks Foundation signed a partnership agreement with Mozambique’s National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) to jointly develop the Maputo Special Reserve and the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve according to a strategic business plan, with the Peace Parks Foundation providing technical and financial support for conservation and tourism development activities.
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