The beloved and well-known five-year-old female cheetah, Njozi, a resident of Rietvlei Nature Reserve, is currently receiving specialised care at the wildlife clinic of the University of Pretoria's (UP) Faculty of Veterinary Science at Onderstepoort. This follows signs of lameness in her right forelimb.

Njozi was located and captured with the assistance of game ranger Jeanri Weideman, thanks to the very high frequency (VHF) collar she wears. She was then darted and radiographed in the field by veterinary wildlife specialist Prof Katja Koeppel.

Radiographs revealed that Njozi had previously fractured two bones in her right forelimb — the radius and ulna.

Unfortunately, these had healed incorrectly (a malunion) and had fused together (a condition known as synostosis), limiting movement in her paw and likely causing abnormal stress on the limb. This, in turn, led to a new fracture just above the original injury site.

She was taken into theatre on Tuesday, where Dr Adriaan Kitshoff, a specialist small animal surgeon, led a team from the faculty’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH) in performing the surgery.

“In theatre, we corrected both the previous malunion and the recent fracture by removing a wedge of bone and carefully realigning the limb,” explained Dr Kitshoff. The bones were then stabilised with two metal plates, and a small bone graft from her shoulder was used to promote healing.

According to Prof Koeppel, Njozi’s bandage was changed the day after surgery, and she was being monitored and cared for by the team of wildlife veterinarians and students at the Faculty of Veterinary Science’s wildlife clinic in the days after the surgery.