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.
Cheetah Conservation Botswana’s research studies the speedy cats and innovative methods to conserve them. Studies investigate cheetah behavior on farmlands, population trends and distribution, prey preferences, and the effectiveness of methods of livestock management in minimizing conflict levels.
At Cheetah Conservation Botswana’s training workshops, farmers learn how to protect their livestock from cheetahs. Techniques include cheetah-proof corrals and livestock guarding dogs. Farmers can visit a demonstration farm or request site visits from Cheetah Conservation Botswana in which staff members assess the farm and suggest improvements to better guard against predators. A livestock guarding dog placement program provides farmers experiencing high levels of conflict with trained guard dogs capable of protecting their herds from cheetahs and other carnivores, while our Farmers Networks link Kalahari farmers together and provide them with a platform to share their experiences and learn improved approaches.
Botswana’s next generation—today’s children—are essential to the future of the cheetah in their country. Cheetah Conservation Botswana’s education team visits around 36 schools a year to teach children about the importance of conservation and the importance of predators, including the cheetah. Each year schools are invited to our education bush camp to experience the wilderness first hand and learn about cheetahs, carnivores, environmental conservation and sustainable livestock farming.
5498 through workshops, 40 through CCB's farmers network, and 81 livestock guarding dog recipients
328 through bush camps and 3,352 though 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.
