WCN Wildlife Conservation Network | Cheetah Conservation Botswana

Rebecca Klein

When Rebecca Klein moved to Botswana in 2001 to work at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve, she cared for two orphaned cheetah brothers who had lost their mother due to conflict with farmers. Upon discovering that there were no conservation efforts underway to protect Botswana’s cheetahs, Rebecca decided to take action and develop solutions for farmers and cheetahs to coexist.

Watch Rebecca Klein's
2012 Expo Presentation

Threats

Due to conflict with humans, cheetah numbers have plummeted by 90% in the last century. Botswana has one of the last free-ranging cheetah populations in the world, making it an essential stronghold for the future of the species. Unable to compete with healthy populations of more powerful predators in reserves, Botswana’s cheetahs are forced to live closer to villages where human/predator conflict jeopardizes their survival.

Solutions

Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) cultivates a conservation ethic among farmers in Botswana while contributing important scientific data to the international cheetah conservation effort. Demonstrating predator-proof farming techniques in local workshops, live theater and video production, CCB empowers farmers to secure their livelihoods while sharing land with cheetahs. CCB is developing "demonstration farms" that highlight sustainable and innovative techniques.

Cheetah Survey Confirms Importance of Conservation Outside Protected Areas

People often consider large protected areas to be the answer to conservation, but this is not true for cheetahs. This critical understanding was confirmed in March when the research team from CCB collaborated with the Central Kalahari Research Group to conduct an unprecedented spoor survey to estimate the number of cheetahs and other carnivore species in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

The survey found evidence of only eight cheetahs in the CKGR, the second largest game reserve in the world at roughly twice the size of More