Unfortunately, not all cheetahs from CCF are releasable like the ones I talked about in my last post. Because of human wildlife conflict, the pet trade, and natural occurrences, many cheetahs end up at CCF for life. If a cheetah is raised by humans it is difficult to teach it not only how and what to hunt, but to teach it a healthy fear of humans that will keep it safe. CCF judges each cheetah that comes in on an individual basis, but a general rule is that if a ...

If you're a climber like me, you know that feeling. That total freedom, that feeling when you send a project or even just finally nail a tough move. It's nerve wracking, draining, fulfilling, and elating all at once. I think a lot of people here at CCF are feeling something similar now. Over the past few days some big changes have happened. We did what we are all here for - to release cheetahs back into the wild. Cheetahs here at CCF are candidates for released i...

CCF has what we call a "model farm". By housing goats, sheep, cattle, and Namibian wildlife on our land we here at CCF can see for ourselves what practices for wildlife coexistence and predator control are most effective. It would be easy and ineffective for us to tell Namibian farmers what we think is best, but here we lead by example. It gives many ranchers the proof they need to see our recommendations can work. The sheep we have here are called Damara shee...

Livestock guardian dogs are just the start of how dogs help in conservation here at CCF. I've been lucky enough to go out with our two scat detection/anti-poaching dog handers Quentin and Tim. They are polar opposites yet the same all at once. Their dynamic is fiercely disagreeing all the time, but the trust and respect between the two is obvious. Quentin is from South Africa and Tim from Germany, and 8 years separate the two in age. Quentin was a ranger in SA an...

Cheetahs are often thought of as large dangerous predators, and it's true, they are tough cats and should always be treated as dangerous cats. However, in the animal kingdom they are not often shown such respect. The small felines are built for speed rather than fighting, and often have their kills stolen by lions, leopards, and hyenas. Even a fiesty pack of jackals may chase a cheetah away from prey. For the spotted cats, getting hurt or killed just isn't worth ...