Cheetah Conservation Fund
| Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) |
|
|---|---|
| Legal form: | Foundation, endowment |
| Purpose: | Cheetahs |
| Chair: | Charles Bodenstein |
| Consist: | since 1990 |
| Founder: | Laurie Marker |
| Seat: | near Otjiwarongo , Namibia
|
| Website: | www.cheetah.org |
The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is an environmental protection organization founded in 1990 dedicated to the protection of the cheetah . The research and education center and headquarters of the CCF is located near Otjiwarongo in Namibia , the country with the largest and healthiest cheetah population in the world.
The CCF is recognized as a charitable organization in the United States , Canada , the United Kingdom and Namibia.
Goals and Achievements
The CCF claims to be an internationally recognized and outstanding research and education center with a special focus on the cheetah, whose employees would like to research and apply the best possible methods to save the cheetah from extinction and its habitats. By and large, the aim is to make the peaceful coexistence of humans and cheetahs possible.
Since its inception, the CCF has achieved some important successes. The non-profit organization has started a series of programs which deal with research into the cheetah's physiology, its behavior, habitat, its prey and also the influence and potential for conflict of humans and other animals. The results of these programs are published and presented internationally and used to initiate special educational and species protection measures.
As a result, people not only in Namibia but also in other countries have become aware of how important the cheetah is for its ecosystem and how threatened it really is. Today, many Namibian farmers use predator-friendly methods of keeping livestock, which benefits the cheetahs, which mainly live on farmland.
organization
The managing director and co-founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund is Laurie Marker, who has been working with cheetahs since 1974 and gives lectures around the world as part of the organization's public relations work. The CCF's patron is Samuel Nujoma , former President of Namibia. The official partner organization of the CCF in Germany is the Aktiongemeinschaft Artenschutz (AGA) eV
Activities and projects
Since the CCF believes it is important to understand the cheetah and its environment before trying to maintain the population, it works closely with local, national and international institutions to raise awareness, inform and train those affected and interested .
The Cheetah Conservation Fund is researching in different directions in order to be able to evaluate current data and data obtained over long periods of time, which in turn should help to understand and better support the cheetah. In addition to Namibia, the findings and the resulting protection programs are also used in other countries such as Botswana , Kenya , South Africa , Algeria and Iran as a template to develop plans for the preservation of the cheetah populations.
Cheetah biology
CCF staff conduct extensive field research to obtain accurate data on distribution, behavior, biology, population demographics, health status and interrelationship between cheetahs and livestock.
It is also committed to doing more to protect cheetahs at national level. One tries, for example, to develop novel counting methods that use camera traps and paw print counting. In addition, one tries to bring in the many years of experience that one has gained in research. In addition, a modern genetics laboratory should make a contribution to species conservation.
ecology
The ultimate goal of the CCF is to ensure the long-term survival of the cheetah and other important wildlife on Namibian farmland by developing a program that is both environmentally sound and economically viable. Both at the Waterberg Conservancy (approx. 2000 km²) and in the area of the farms around Otjiwarongo (15000 km²), data on the size of populations, habitat and prey density are determined and movement profiles of cheetahs are created. Particularly on the farm of the CCF Research Center (a total of around 250 km²), intensive studies are carried out on prey animals and habitat.
A project also tested whether the removal of lignified bushes had a positive effect on cheetah's hunting behavior, and a scheme was developed for optimally laying out farmland, which can be both a habitat for cheetahs and an advantage for farmers. The CCF is also trying to distribute bush-based goods such as bushblok, fuel from these bushes, to ensure that adequate amounts of bushes can be removed over a long period of time. Based on the experiences from this pilot project, a start has been made to make land usable again for cheetahs that need free terrain for their hunt. The income from the sale of the fuel should ideally cover the expenses in order to make the project a sure-fire success.
Health and reproduction
The CCF conducts research in the field of genetics and ecology and also deals with health issues as well as those related to the reproduction of the cheetah and the effects of human influence on the animals. New findings are published regularly. The CCF also assists other organizations in the management of captive and wild cheetahs around the world and has a comprehensive physiological database and a genetic database in which 244 sperm samples have been collected from both wild and CCF resident cheetahs (as of December 2007).
Human influence on the cheetah
The CCF uses various methods to keep predators away from farm animals in order to prevent farmers from killing cheetahs. This includes the following measures:
- Studies on the effective use of up-and-over doors, resettlement of problem animals and the introduction of z. B. the Livestock Guarding Dog Program (farm animal protection dog program), in which Anatolian shepherd dogs are trained to protect cattle herds, as they are particularly suitable for this and have already achieved great success with this program.
- The creation of long-term programs to protect the cheetah around the world. This includes the development, testing and support of alternative land management methods, the establishment of nature reserves and eco-tourism.
- Local and international information programs, with the help of which one wants to educate affected farmers and residents of the countries with remaining cheetah populations and to avoid, resolve or at least alleviate conflict situations. Farmers should be able to learn how to deal with predators, especially cheetahs, through previous knowledge and be able to solve problems without having to resort to killing the animals. The CCF provides information material worldwide for this purpose.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on the distribution of the cheetah
- ↑ Information about the recognition of the CCF as an NGO
- ↑ Mission statement of the CCF
- ^ Previous results and successes of the CCF programs
- ^ List of employees of the CCF
- ↑ Information on partner organizations of the CCF , accessed on October 22, 2013.
- ↑ Use of GPS tracking on Asian cheetahs ( Memento from March 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Information on the Bushblok project
- ↑ Annual report 2007 of the CCF ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Article on the Livestock Guardian Dog Program
- ↑ Study on the effectiveness of the Livestock Guarding Dog program ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 971 kB)
See also
Web links
- Official website (English)