It has been a busy start of the year! We have had puppies being born, generous donations of equipment come to our clinic and genetics lab, cheetahs being collared and one confiscated just last week. I will be posting some of these news shortly. However, with this post we want to share a letter we received from on of the learners that attended a conservation course at CCF last month:

A letter from one of the participants from our“Integrated Livestock-Predator Management for High School Learners” course, held in December 2007.

I am a student of Highlands Christian School in Windhoek, who attended the Integrated Livestock & Predator Management Training Course 2007, at CCF (Cheetah Conservation Fund). My name is Jamie Theron and this was my time at the CCF:

The week long course was a wonderful experience. Not only did I learn a lot but I also got the chance to interact with different cultures, both locally and internationally. I also discovered what a magnificent animal the cheetah is and how much is being done to save it from extinction. I never really thought of the cheetah as a special or even important animal, but after a week at CCF I completely changed the way I thought about the cheetah.

The course was mainly about cattle and goat farming, the management of these livestock and the conservation of the natural environment and wildlife. I am from the south of Namibia where we farm mostly with sheep and goats, but some of the things that I learned during the course can also be applied to sheep farming. It has also awakened an interest in cattle farming and with my new found knowledge and better understanding of cattle farming it may not be such a bad idea to start moving in that direction.

Before we left we were asked to give suggestions to future courses and I would like to suggest a course about small stock management for sheep farmers and/or a course about establishing and managing a game farm. I want to thank all the people who made it possible and contributed to making the course week so much fun and a special thanks to the ladies who provided the delicious food. I had an exceptionally wonderful, amazing time and look forward to attending future courses at CCF.

Pictured above: Learners meet littleC.

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