CCF launches 2023 Chewbaaka’s wild cheetah challenge matching campaign

Saving cheetahs in the wild
  • 10 Months Ago - 2023-07-05 08:40:00
Saving cheetahs in the wild is the Cheetah Conservation Fund's (CCF’s) mission and they do this with help from cheetah friends from around the world.
Every year, the Chewbaaka Wild Cheetah Challenge creates a global focus on cheetah conservation. The Chewbaaka Wild Cheetah Challenge is CCF’s annual fundraiser to celebrate Chewbaaka’s birthday. Chewbaaka was CCF’s first orphan ambassador cheetah who became world famous through international media.
Annually, a generous group of CCF’s supporters will match every donation CCF receives between 1 July and 31 August to celebrate his birthday through Chewbaaka’s Wild Cheetah Challenge.
Chewbaaka arrived at the CCF in 1995 as a tiny 10-day-old cub. Raised by Dr Laurie Marker, CCF’s founder and executive director, he survived and grew to become a cheetah ambassador to CCF and Namibia. Through international media, Chewbaaka helped to represent the plight of his species to millions of people across the globe and share with the world the programs CCF and Namibia have developed to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
Chewbaaka’s Wild Cheetah Challenge is named in his honour with the slogan, ‘We Can Live Together’.
“So many people met—and loved—Chewbaaka,” said Marker. “Farmers, villagers, and school children who visited CCF’s research and education centre connected with him and became inspired to help protect cheetahs in the wild. Chewbaaka’s Wild Cheetah Challenge honours that legacy of connection and encourages each of us to be inspired to protect our wildlife and wild places.”
Cheetah populations are on the decline. Today there are less than 7 000 wild cheetahs left in Africa with less than 20 individuals remaining in Iran, the last of the Asian cheetah.
Namibia, known as the Cheetah Capital of the World, has the last large remaining wild population of cheetahs, with approximately 1500. From Namibia, conservation and awareness programmes are spreading throughout the remaining cheetah range countries, and CCF is working hard—with your help—to stop the decline.