The African Large Predator Research Unit [ALPRU] was founded on 4 March 2002 [Executive Management Meeting Minutes, paragraph 7.5, and subsection (b) (v)] at the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

ALPRU is based at the Department of Animal, Wildlife, and Grassland Sciences in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences of the UFS.

Agricultural Building, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, UFS

HO de Waal - 10 December 2002

Southern entrance to the Agricultural Building, UFS

Some basic information about the location:

Africa is the second largest of the seven continents and comprises about 23% of the land mass on earth. The continent straddles the equator and most of the land mass lies within the tropics. The population of Africa is currently estimated at about 13% of the human population in the world.

South Africa is one of the 47 mainland countries on the African continent - there are also six surrounding island nations. South Africa comprises the southernmost part of the continent.

Bloemfontein is the capital of the Free State province. Since 1994, South Africa is geopolitically divided into nine provinces. The Free State lies in the centre of South Africa and is surrounded by the eight other provinces, namely Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Northern Cape, North-West, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and Limpopo.

The university was established in 1904. In 1950, the university became officially known as the University of the Orange Free State, with Afrikaans as medium of tuition. Recently, its name was changed to the University of the Free State. Currently Afrikaans and English are both languages of tuition. In addition to Afrikaans and English, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa also provides for nine other official languages.

The Department of Animal, Wildlife, and Grassland Sciences was created at the beginning of 2002 - comprising two former departments, namely the Department of Animal Science and the Department of Grassland Science.

The department currently caters for several disciplines related to a range of domesticated livestock as well as African wildlife. These disciplines include Animal Breeding, Animal Nutrition, Animal Physiology, and Grassland or Pasture Science.

Course material is currently developed to support the new niche market for training in Africa. During the second semester of 2005, a new course (DVL444 Applied nutrition of wild herbivores and carnivores) was introduced.