Normally I am not a friend of tamed wild animals. But what I saw at Cheetah Outreach in Somerset West near Cape Town did please me.

Their Motto: “To promote the survival of the free ranging Southern African cheetah through environmental education and delivering in-situ conservation initiatives.”

The cheetahs’s power as an ambassador to educate and transform cannot be duplicated. You must see it with your own eyes. At Cheetah Outreach they have handreared captive born cheetahs as representatives of the endangered free-ranging cheetah providing people with the opportunity to see and meet this majestic cat up close. All those cats are not suitable for release into the wild because they have not been skilled in survival techniques vital for their successful existence.

Furthermore there is a South African Cheetah Anatolian Shepherd Guard dog project, purchasing or breeding, placing and providing veterinary support, husbandry and monitoring for working dogs, which promotes non-lethal predator control.

The cheetah is threatened with extinction. Why? First thing is the conflict with livestock and game farmers and its reduced ability to survive in protected areas due to the presence of other large predators. When livestock is getting killed the farmers blame first line the cheetahs of doing it. But cheetahs normally don’t hunt livestock. But it’s their fault. Normal! The truth is, that livestock gets killed by other and larger predators. To provide the farmers with the Anatolian Shepherd Guard dogs is a first approach to protect their livestock and to save the cheetahs.