Big cats owe lives to dogs

A "shepherd dog" called Kiwi is helping save Africa's most endangered big cat, the cheetah.

Kiwi is an anatolian guard dog specially trained to roam with stock to scare off predators like cheetahs, which means African farmers are less likely to shoot or trap them.

The Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund has helped support Cape Town-based Cheetah Outreach which runs the anatolian livestock project and in acknowledgement named one of the guard dogs Kiwi.

The Kiwi connection to cheetah conservation in Africa came to light yesterday with the visit to the zoo of Annie Beckhelling, the founder of Cheetah Outreach.

Ms Beckhelling is in New Zealand for about a week to highlight the plight of the cheetah, the world's fastest land mammal which in South Africa now numbers only about 850. MORE>>