THE CHEETAH

The cheetah lives in the vast savannahs of Africa and in a limited territory in Asia. It is the fastest animal on earth.
The very looks of the cheetah, long-legged with a long and slender frame and a light-weight build, reveal at a glance that it is able to reach a speed of more than 75 mph.

Unfortunately one of the most attractive creatures in our Nature is seriously being endangered.

The Cheetah Friends Europe Foundation is trying –among other things- to conserve the natural habitat of the cheetah in order to prevent the extinction of this beautiful animal.

Close co-operation between the Foundation on the one hand and a variety of projects and local organisations on the other, gives the Foundation a unique character, resulting in direct contacts which clearly show what can be done with your support and donations.

ESTABLISHMENT
The Foundation is the final outcome of three initiatives. These three had been working for some time already in the field of cheetah conservation. Towards the end of 2005 the initiatives joined resulting in co-operation and subsequently in the establishment of the Cheetah Friends Europe Foundation. Its legal start was July 11th. 2006.
Thanks to the knowledge and experience already at hand with the board, it was possible to formulate and lay down in a concise and efficient way the aims of the Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit organisation.

THE BOARD

The board of the Foundation consists of the following members:

The Foundation has a protector, Hanneke Louwman. She established the former WWBC (Wassenaar Wildlife Breeding Centre)

AIMS
The Foundation aims at:

1. The protection and conservation of the cheetah, especially in Eastern-Africa.
2. The conservation of the natural habitat of the cheetah.
3. The creation of  new habitats for the cheetah, among other things by acquiring new territories.
4. The development of research into the cheetah as well as giving information on the subject.
5. Anything else that might contribute to the benefit of the cheetah.

RESPONSIBILTY

Business-plan - Activities
The Foundation has a business-plan and also a plan of activities. It will be possible to view the business-plan on our website in the near future.

Annual reports
Each year a report will be issued concerning the activities and financial situation during the previous year. The annual report may be reviewed on our website. Click here and complete the contact-form.

Legal status
The Cheetah Friends Europe Foundation has been denoted by Inland Revenue as an approved institution for the general good (Law on Succession 1956; section 32, clause1,sub 3 and section 33, clause1, sub4). This means that donation to an institution for the general good can be made without any further taxes, unless the donation is made with some reserve by which the aspect of the general good is lost.
Cheetah Friends Europe Foundation is legally not taxable and is therefore not required to send in tax-returns on donations.
A copy of the text concerning the relevant tax concession is available at the Foundation’s.

THE CHEETAH
The cheetah is a feline and belongs to the ‘big cats’. The Hindu-word ‘Chita’ (from which cheetah is derived), means ‘the spotted one’.  Most conspicuous about the cheetah are the black stripes from the corners of its eyes all down along the nose, the so-called ‘watery eyes’.
Everything in the cheetah’s body is built for speed. Its body is slender and supple, giving the animal a great manoeuvrability. Due to its flexible spine and the long legs, the cheetah takes strides of 7 to 8 metres (22-25 yards) at top speed. Because a cheetah’s claws are not retractable, it has a secure grip on the soil while making swift turns and during high-speed running. The cheetah can keep up its top speed of about 120 km/h (75 mph) only for a relatively short period, because it runs the risk of overheating. Consequently the animal has to react very swiftly in order to catch its prey. The cheetah is mentioned in the IUCN’s Red List and denoted as ‘vulnerable’ and ‘endangered species’. This means that the cheetah is on the verge of becoming extinct if nothing is done to prevent that.

HABITAT
The cheetah can be found mainly in the open savannahs where it has an unimpeded view across the vast plains. There are five sub-species, living in various areas in Africa and Asia. Four sub-species live in Africa, all over the continent in the past but mainly in the Eastern and Southern parts nowadays. They used to live in extensive territories in Asia; at present they are confined to a few small areas and live in low-population numbers.

ENDANGERMENT
At the moment fewer than 12.500 cheetahs are remaining and still at large in Africa and Asia’s free nature. The majority lives in small, isolated groups, outside the protected wild-preserves. This leads to frequent conflicts between the cheetah and the local population with their live-stock. The ever-expanding agriculture is another cause of the cheetah’s dwindling habitat. Furthermore, they are being hunted at.

Loss and destruction of habitat
Because of the decrease of its habitat through human activities, the cheetah is forced to live together with other predators. Competition increases whereas the amount of prey-animals decreases. Because the cheetah is not an aggressive animal by nature, its prey is often taken away by bigger predators.
The increasing expulsion of the cheetahs from the savannahs towards more wooded areas is one of the reasons why the cheetah is more and more incapable of catching prey, as it is dependent for the hunt on vast, open spaces. It can also easily get wounded or injured by the omnipresent thorny bushes.

Prosecution by livestock-farmers and illegal hunters
Big predators, like the cheetah, are often thought to be responsible for the killing of livestock. And although this is often not true, they are being hunted down and shot or poisoned by farmers. They are also being killed, like so many wild animals in Africa, by poachers. Huge amounts are being paid for the cheetah’s pelt and also their canine-teeth are in great demand.

Loss of genetic diversity
Few cheetahs living at large remain and are isolated from each other at that. That is why the genetic diversity of the sort is extremely limited. Genetic diversity and variety is of crucial importance to prevent inbreeding. It is also an important factor to enable the sort to adapt to changing living-conditions in order to survive. The more limited the genetic diversity, the more difficult it is for the sort to adapt and the smaller the chance to survive.

BREEDING PROGRAMMES
Constantly efforts are being made in zoological gardens all over the world to breed cheetahs. To de this in a responsible way, so that the genetic diversity is preserved in the best possible way, an international register of pedigree has been set up. The purpose is to register all animals living in captivity, so that recommendations and advice can be given with respect to the breeding programmes. In this way the captive animals might contribute to the conservation of the cheetahs at large.

SUPPORT

You may help the cheetah by becoming a donor to Cheetah Friends Europe. By means of your financial support we can set up and support projects that are in the interest of the conservation of the cheetah and its habitat

It is possible to make a donation directly through Internet by using the online donation module below.

It is also possible to remit your contribution to the following bank accounts:

Dutch Bank Information
Rabobank 11.04.78.052 at Epe
IBAN: NL42RABO.0110.4870.52
BIC: RABONL2U

Belgian Bank Information:
KBC 733-0411953-24
IBAN: BE81 7330 4119 5324
BIC: KREDBEBB

We would like to keep our supporters informed of all relevant developments so, please, remember to state your name and address!
On our website comprehensive information about our projects and news concerning the cheetah can be found.
Should you wish to receive additional information with respect to donating or if you prefer an alternative way of financial support, please, go to contact.

THREE INITIATIVES

Nancy Benjamins
As long as I can remember I have been dreaming of Africa and of Kenya in particular. As a young girl I always had animals, humans and nature on my mind. Not until my mother unexpectedly died, did I realise that everything may simply come to an end without warning and that I –if such a thing occurred to me- would never have been to Africa at all!
That is why I decided to act quickly and when I received an invitation from Kuki Gallmann, a female author who lives in Kenya, I availed myself of the opportunity to make my dreams come true. From the very first moment I arrived in Kenya, I felt like coming home! After this first-time visit I have been back to Africa many times more, together with my husband and children and we have met with many adventures. During my visits to Kenya I also got acquainted with Mary Wijkstra of the Cheetah Conservation Fund. I had been taking a profound interest in cheetahs for a long time already and it was by this passion that I felt the urge to do more.
On encountering exactly the right people back in Holland, you cannot fail to give a concrete shape to you passion. It is quite difficult to achieve something when you are on your own but together with others anything becomes possible.
I also wanted to share my convictions and my deeply felt passion. It is all about the feeling that the care of animals, shared by many people, does make a difference. That is why Cheetah Friends Europe Foundation was called into existence.

Sabine Boucherie – Zodiac Nature Watch
From a very early age on, I was deeply interested in the vegetable and animal kingdom and I had dreams of working in a zoo when I would be older or at least being busy in the field of nature conservation.
After I had been –for my studies or to do probationary work- to Brazil, Tanzania, Kenya and South-Africa, I got the opportunity to work for ‘Zodiac Zoos’. I have been working here since 1999, first as the manager of ‘Zoo Parc Overloon’ and later as supervisor with Nature Conservation and chairman of Zodiac Nature Watch Foundation which is linked to ‘Zodiac Zoos’, a nature conservation organisation in which four different zoos cooperate.
In one of these gardens, ‘Zoo Parc Overloon’, two cheetahs have recently arrived. That was of an old dream of mine come true! From its very beginning in 2000, Zoo Parc Overloon had intended to give shelter to cheetahs. It was not before 2006, however, that the animals finally arrived.
Zodiac Nature Watch is active in projects concerning nature conservation, nationally as well as abroad. For quite some time we have been searching for initiatives aimed at the protection of cheetahs, living at large. In view of this, we wanted to establish a new Foundation, independent of Zodiac Nature Watch, with the explicit purpose to work on the conservation and support of these beautiful animals. Hanneke Louwman, our expert who was often consulted when the cheetahs were about to arrive at our zoo, introduced us to the Benjamins family. It was this contact which helped to establish Cheetah Friends Europe.

Our hopes are for a close and long-lasting co-operation.

Hanneke Louwman – Wassenaar Wildlife Breeding Centre
Even as a young child I was interested in all sorts of animals and also I wished I could visit Africa one day. Before that day finally arrived, I worked for a veterinary surgeon while I was still at school and during week-ends as a volunteer at ‘Wassenaar Zoo’. There I met my husband who was the son of the founder and chairman of the same Zoo. I am sad to say that the Zoo had to close down in 1984.
During the twenty years my husband and I managed the Zoo, we have sheltered in our home many new-born animals during the first few weeks of their existence, often feeding them from baby-bottles. From a variety of reasons the most important one was that the young animal’s mother could not produce milk or at least not enough. To mention just a few guests from the happy throng: camels, chimpanzees, orang-utans, lions, tigers, panthers, binturongs, meerkats, nose-bears, wallabies, etc.
 
For ten years I worked for Dutch Television with Martin Brozius on a programme for youngsters which was called ‘Ren je Rot’ (Run as you can…). I came to the studios one hundred and three times and brought a different animal with me each time! Once I brought six young cheetahs.

From 1980 onwards, Wassenaar was very successful in breeding these beautiful animals, in the Zoo itself at first and later in the Wassenaar Wildlife Breeding Centre, which we ran after the Zoo had to close down. During the past 20 years, WWBC has made a substantial contribution to captive cheetah breeding efforts and has shared its expertise with zoos all over the world. Until now more than 200 cheetahs have been born in the WWBC or in places co-operating with it.

Cheetah Friends Europe Foundation was established to support projects dealing with the observation of the behaviour of the cheetah and the conservation of this beautiful animal.  I feel very honoured to have been invited to be the protector of this Foundation and I shall be glad to do my utmost for it, as the cheetah has been my favourite for so long.

Kiki Vleeschouwers
My name is Kiki Vleeschouwers and I have been a veterinary surgeon for pets for 20 years. My love of animals does not come forth from my profession only; animals and nature in general do play an important part with my family as they do in my spare time. Fortunately Roy, my partner and fellow-vet, and our three sons share the same passion. Our eldest son dreams of becoming a gifted maritime biologist some day and his younger twin-brothers spend all their energies on a small elephant and a cheetah they have adopted. Their activities attracted my attention towards the cheetah and gradually I came to the conclusion that this fascinating great cat is really in need of our protection and that it needs it RIGHT NOW.
Cheetah Conservation Fund has been doing excellent and successful work for the cheetahs for quite some years now, nonetheless I thought it useful and necessary to create a European organisation to make clear the problems the cheetah is facing as well as to promote its protection, especially in the Low Countries.
More or less incidentally I came to know Nancy and Sabine, who passionately devote their energies to the cheetahs and their problems. Their enthusiasm to actively do something in the field of cheetah conservation gave me the push to establish –in a joint effort- Cheetah Friends Europe. I sincerely hope that through Cheetah Friends Europe we will be able to reach a larger audience, making them aware of the cheetah’s predicament, enticing them to effectively work together for the benefit of the cheetah so that this graceful great cat may be admired in its proper habitat by generations to come.