Cheetah Conservation Fund

Category: Background | Date: Sep 19 2007 | By: admin

The cheetahs’ survival depends on people and our ability to manage the wild population and protect its habitat.

When people destroy habitat by constructing buildings or over-grazing livestock, for example, they prevent nearly all animal populations from surviving there, both in the present, as well as the future. Animals compete poorly with humans for space. Humans normally change the environment very rapidly; animals cannot always adjust to these changes or adapt quickly enough. Large predators like the cheetah need large areas in which to roam; they usually are not found close together or in great numbers. Loss of habitat and a limited geographical range (a small area in which to live) threaten the cheetah’s survival.

Low survivorship (few cheetahs live long or do not become adults) also affects cheetahs and makes them more vulnerable to human competition. High cub mortality, up to 90% in the wild, along with high adult mortality by indiscriminate killing by farmers, makes it difficult for the cheetah to recover when its population size decreases.

Helping predator species survive in spite of competition from people is one aspect of wildlife conservation. Loss of habitat and prey base, competition with large predators and agricultural interests, and poaching are taking a heavy toll on wild cheetah populations throughout Africa.

Today, there are fewer than 15,000 of these endangered cats remaining in Africa and Asia. The vast majority of cheetahs live in small, isolated groups outside protected game reserves where they are often in conflict with humans and livestock, and most populations continue to decline. The largest wild population of cheetahs is found in Namibia. In the 1980s their numbers were reduced by half to less than 2500. Lack of genetic variation, reproduction abnormalities, high infant mortality, and a great susceptibility to disease place the species at a further risk of extinction. Genetic variation allows species to adapt better to environmental and ecological changes and to fight off diseases.

While cheetahs were once found all over Africa, they are now endangered in most of their former ranges. Cheetahs do not pose a threat to human life. People continue to kill cheetahs because they believe cheetahs kill livestock as well as other domestic animals, causing excessive economic loss. In reality, the amount of damage to domestic stock is exaggerated and is usually caused by a limited number of livestock-preying cats, or “conflict” animals, and inadequate livestock practices. Despite these problems, cheetahs do have a chance for survival on the vast farmlands of southern Africa.

Humans share this earth with up to 33 million animals, plants and other life forms. The diversity of life on our planet is amazing. All species - plants, mammals, insects, and invertebrates - depend on one another. People depend on many different plants and animals for food and medicines. Cheetahs are only one of 33 million species living on the planet. Does it really matter if the cheetah becomes extinct? It is tempting to think that the loss of only one species will not affect us. But we must remember that all things are connected and explore how important cheetahs are in their ecosystem. When we lose even one species, our world becomes a poorer place to live. The cheetah deserves a place on this earth. The cat has been revered by humans for almost 5,000 years. If it is lost to future generations, it would leave a large hole not only in nature, but also in the very psyche of the human mind, which so naturally feels and knows the uniqueness of this creature. Namibia, with its varied ecosystems and diversity of life, presents the greatest hope for the cheetah’s future.

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