Cheetahs attack air force member

A member from Air Force Base Makhado has been attacked by two cheetahs that are used to control wildlife on the base.

Limpopo - A member from Air Force Base (AFB) Makhado in Limpopo has been attacked by two of the cheetahs which the South African military regularly deploys as a means to control wildlife populations on bases.

The SA Air Force’s Director of Corporate Staff Services, Brigadier General Marthie Visser, said the incident took place on Tuesday and involved two male cheetahs which had been recently introduced at the Makhado airbase.

“AFB Makhado has already convened an investigation into the circumstances that have given rise to this, unprecedented incident,” Visser said.

“The investigation will attempt to explain injury to a service member on duty and inform targeted preventative actions for the future management of cheetahs in the Air Force’s aviation safety programme.”

The extent of the air force member’s injuries was not made clear.

According to Visser, cheetahs are regularly used as a sustainable means of controlling wildlife populations that pose a hazard to aviation safety in the aircraft manoeuvring areas at certain airbases of the South African Air Force.

“This practice has been applied with success since the 1990s, first at AFB Hoedspruit, being introduced soon after also to AFB Makhado,” Visser said.

“Male cheetah coalition pairs are routinely replaced at either of these two airbases as donations from selected stock animals bred and raised at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC). A close working relationship has developed between the Air Force and HESC over the past two decades. In this time, thanks to HESC, valuable experience and knowledge has accumulated to render the cheetah programme at both these airbases a notable success.”

African News Agency