Cheetahs saved by Kangal Dogs

Dr. Laurie Marker, Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, held a talk on the 6th of May in Holland about cheetahs and what the CCF is doing to prevent these magnificent animals from becoming extinct. With her permission, I filmed the talk and made this video to promote their invaluable work.

This video shows excerpts from her talk and focusses on the livestock and predator management course with regards to using the Kangal dog from Turkey, which has been protecting livestock for 6000 years.

To create awareness and understanding of cheetahs and their plight, the Cheetah Conservation Fund offers local farmers in Namibia an integrated livestock and predator management course. They learn about cheetahs and why it’s important to save them.

Through the training, farmers are shown among other things how to build better bomas (enclosures) to protect their flocks at night. Selected farmers are also given guard dogs to protect their livestock from all predators, including leopards and cheetahs. This enables wild animals to continue roaming in the wild, as opposed to being killed because of the threat to livestock.

Thanks to the success of this program, the number of cheetahs that have been killed in Namibia has dropped. Your support can help CCF roll out this program into other countries where cheetahs still roam freely. Your help is needed to create a balance between the needs of people and wildlife.

With special thanks to:

• Dr. Laurie Marker from the Cheetah Conservation Fund
• Yvonne van der Mey – for permission to use the cheetah photographs in the video

Paul Garrett of KidsLoveAnimals.com produced this 7-minute video on the work of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia. This version has been re-edited and re-voiced for the Cheetah Conservation Fund in the UK, www.cheetah.org.uk.