By Hoandi !Gaeb
KEETMANSHOOP – Beasts of prey and thieves are causing havoc at the government’s research farm, Gellap Ost, near Keetmanshoop in the //Karas Region.
This was confirmed to New Era by the manager of the farm, Gerrick Husselman.
He said the situation is being aggravated by the research station being closely located to Keetmanshoop and the Nama communal area.
“We decided not to make use of the camps near the national road between Keetmanshoop and Berseba due to the increase in stock theft. Wild animals such as lynx, jackal and stray dogs from Keetmanshoop are causing big losses,” he said.
According to Husselman thieves are stealing production karakul sheep which are stud breeds, not realising they are causing great harm to government and the research station.
“All animals we are farming with and use for training courses are high-quality animals and when they are stolen or slaughtered we suffer losses of thousands of dollars.”
He said over 50 Swakara sheep were stolen by thieves or killed by jackal, lynx and stray dogs.
However, he said they were taking pro-active action to mitigate the risk of losing too many stud-breed animals.