Kunene guest farm cleared of animal mistreatment charges

INVESTIGATIONS by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism into alleged abuse of cheetahs at a guest farm in the Kunene Region have found no truth in the claims, a senior official in the Ministry said yesterday.

Ben Beytell, the Director of Parks and Wildlife Management, said officials who investigated the allegations found that the Otjitotongwe Guest Garm in the Kamanjab area met all Ministry guidelines on keeping wild animals. The allegations were made by two Italian tourists who recently visited the guest farm.”They have conformed with all our requirements.The animals are well fed and we registered the guest farm five years ago,” said Beytell.He added that the facility was also inspected by the Ministry’s officials before the permit to keep wild animals was issued.Two tourists, Elena Fieni and Mary Ferrajuolo, alleged in a letter to The Namibian that cheetahs at the farm were in captivity and denied any chance of hunting.They claimed that the cheetah enclosures looked “like cages” and that the nursery for cheetah cubs was located next to a noisy campsite.At the time, Roeleen Nel of Otjitotongwe Guest Farm dismissed the allegations as “full of lies.”The guest farm has 19 cheetahs.Nel said they are kept in a 400-hectare camp where they can roam freely.The Ministry’s guidelines on keeping wild animals stipulate that each animal should have half a hectare of space.Beytell agreed that the cheetahs at Otjitotongwe have a big enough enclosure, with shrubs and bushes typical to their natural habitat.The cheetahs are only temporarily moved into a smaller enclosure when they are being fed or when the big enclosure is being cleaned, he said.The allegations were made by two Italian tourists who recently visited the guest farm.”They have conformed with all our requirements.The animals are well fed and we registered the guest farm five years ago,” said Beytell.He added that the facility was also inspected by the Ministry’s officials before the permit to keep wild animals was issued.Two tourists, Elena Fieni and Mary Ferrajuolo, alleged in a letter to The Namibian that cheetahs at the farm were in captivity and denied any chance of hunting.They claimed that the cheetah enclosures looked “like cages” and that the nursery for cheetah cubs was located next to a noisy campsite.At the time, Roeleen Nel of Otjitotongwe Guest Farm dismissed the allegations as “full of lies.”The guest farm has 19 cheetahs.Nel said they are kept in a 400-hectare camp where they can roam freely.The Ministry’s guidelines on keeping wild animals stipulate that each animal should have half a hectare of space.Beytell agreed that the cheetahs at Otjitotongwe have a big enough enclosure, with shrubs and bushes typical to their natural habitat.The cheetahs are only temporarily moved into a smaller enclosure when they are being fed or when the big enclosure is being cleaned, he said.