The cheetah’s lean build gives it the speed and agility that make it famous. However, this rangy physique also means that the cheetah struggles to live alongside bigger cats such as lions in reserves and national parks—the cheetah is too small to compete.
Cheetahs therefore live mostly on non-protected land surrounded by farmers and rural communities. Sharing this land is difficult because farmers perceive cheetahs to be a threat. Human-wildlife conflict is largely responsible for the loss of 90% of the cheetah population (around 90,000 individual cheetahs) during just one century.
Botswana is a remaining stronghold for cheetahs, providing a home for approximately 30% of earth’s remaining 7,100 cheetahs, it is the only country where their population remains stable. Cheetah Conservation Botswana’s main task is reducing the conflict and improving community perceptions towards cheetahs and other carnivores. Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) works together with the communities that live side-by-side with cheetahs, creating initiatives tailored to meet community needs and priorities. They aim to allow cheetahs to remain as a flagship species for the delicate Kalahari ecosystem and its rich biodiversity.
Botswana has an incredibly important role to play in cheetah conservation globally. It is one of the last and best hopes for the preservation of our earth’s declining cheetah population.Rebecca Klein
Rebecca grew up all over the world, moving frequently with her adventurous parents. She has always felt as comfortable around animals as she does around people. She moved to Botswana in 2001 to work at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve and while there cared for two orphaned cheetah brothers who had lost their mother to conflict with farmers.
After working with the orphaned cheetahs, Rebecca tried to find an organization dedicated to protecting Botswana’s cheetahs. Upon discovering that there were none, she decided to start Cheetah Conservation Botswana along with Dr. Kyle Good and Ann Marie Houser. She lives in Botswana and hopes that Cheetah Conservation Botswana will help the cheetah remain as the flagship species for the country’s biodiversity.
To reduce conflict between cheetahs and livestock, CCB trains a local breed of Tswana livestock guarding dogs to protect livestock from threats. With a network of over 100 participating farmers, CCB trains puppies and provides free veterinary care and information. CCB continues to monitor all active dogs in the program to assess the effectiveness of this intervention.
A great deal of biological research has been conducted in protected areas where wildlife roams free and without persecution, but there has been far less research held on farmlands, where the real threat to cheetah survival exists. CCB’s research mainly centers around human-wildlife conflict and finding out how cheetahs are hunting, to ensure that cheetahs are protected with the most useful and evidence-based approaches.
CCB’s education department conducts four-day educational camps, where children and adult groups are immersed in experiential learning and come to appreciate Botswana’s environment and carnivores. At CCB bush camps, participants are exposed to a range of important environmental ideas through lectures, bush walks, activities, and fun games.
Many farmers who share the land with cheetahs often consider these animals as pests due to the perceived threat that they pose to their livestock. Through CCB’s “Farming for Conservation” program, CCB is trying to help farmers implement inexpensive carnivore control methods to curb losses and improve productivity, thereby improving livelihoods.
Through CCB’s community participatory planning processes, they ensure communities’ social needs are addressed, and a sense of pride for the San’s natural and cultural resources is celebrated, through traditional dances or murals painted at local schools. These partnerships allow communities to be supported and improve their ability to manage their natural resource base.
Reducing Conflict
To reduce conflict between cheetahs and livestock, CCB trains a local breed of Tswana livestock guarding dogs to protect livestock from threats. With a network of over 100 participating farmers, CCB trains puppies and provides free veterinary care and information. CCB continues to monitor all active dogs in the program to assess the effectiveness of this intervention.
Scientific Research
A great deal of biological research has been conducted in protected areas where wildlife roams free and without persecution, but there has been far less research held on farmlands, where the real threat to cheetah survival exists. CCB’s research mainly centers around human-wildlife conflict and finding out how cheetahs are hunting, to ensure that cheetahs are protected with the most useful and evidence-based approaches.
Expanding Education
CCB’s education department conducts four-day educational camps, where children and adult groups are immersed in experiential learning and come to appreciate Botswana’s environment and carnivores. At CCB bush camps, participants are exposed to a range of important environmental ideas through lectures, bush walks, activities, and fun games.
Boosting Local Economies
Many farmers who share the land with cheetahs often consider these animals as pests due to the perceived threat that they pose to their livestock. Through CCB’s “Farming for Conservation” program, CCB is trying to help farmers implement inexpensive carnivore control methods to curb losses and improve productivity, thereby improving livelihoods.
Honoring Culture
Through CCB’s community participatory planning processes, they ensure communities’ social needs are addressed, and a sense of pride for the San’s natural and cultural resources is celebrated, through traditional dances or murals painted at local schools. These partnerships allow communities to be supported and improve their ability to manage their natural resource base.
CCB promoted livestock vaccination, human-cheetah conflict reduction, and sustainable farming practices during the ongoing pandemic.
CCB expanded their livestock guarding dog program to reduce livestock predation and enable coexistence between cheetahs and farmers
This is achieved through bush camps and school visits
Donations of any amount can help pay for school visits that help children learn the importance of predators and conservation.
$50 provides a school kit of learning resources to a school in the cheetah’s Kalahari stronghold.
$100 sponsors a child to attend a 3 day environmental bush camp at the CCB center.
$150 pays for one mobile livestock protection workshop for 20 farmers.
$250 sponsors the medical treatment, vaccination and sterilization of one livestock guarding dog for one year.
