by Mary Wykstra

I am so proud of my dog - Ginger! And her new trainer - Chifuyu!

The two of them spent a month in training with KK Security perfecting Ginger's skills in finding cheetah scat (faeces). Chif had to be trained in giving commands and rewards that would keep Ginger motivated. Ginger had to be trained in being focused on the poo!

while i will miss my companion for the last three years, it is truely Ginger's calling. She loves being in the field, loves sleeping in the bush and loves the long car rides that will take her throughout the study area in search of cheetah scat.

Ginger will sit on a bench mounted to the front of a vehicle and tells Chif when she smells the lovely cheetah poo. They then walk to the site where Chif gets the role of collecting, storing and testing the poo. We will use the poo to determine cheetah genetics (the relationship of family memebers to eachother), stress levels (also known as faecal cortisol) and prey preference (washing out the hair samples and measuring the frequency of prey consumed but the cheetahs).

This will be a part of Chifuyu's PhD thesis and will assist us in evaluation of the ecological indicators which support healthy cheetah populations.

Action for Cheetahs in Kenya needs your help. Visit our web site - actionforcheetahs.org.

To make a donation, please visit Project Survival – http://www.cathaven.com/giftshop.htm