Saving the Cheetah

The cheetah, which can reach speeds of seventy miles per hours and due to its plight in recent

decades, is deliberated as one of the world's most vanishing species by the Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In hundred years ago, hundred thousand wild

cheetahs inhabited forty-four or more countries throughout Asia and Africa. Over 90 percent of

cheetah population has been wiped out.

According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), a Namibia based non-profit organization

today the existence of the species is only in two dozen of those countries. Furthermore, about two

hundred of the fast-cats live in the wild in Iran where they are known as Asiatic Cheetah.

The worlds' fastest animal such as the cheetah was added to the danger of extinction animals' list

according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Cheetahs are vulnerable not only

to natural predators, but also the poachers, hunters, farmers trying to protect their domestic

animals, and loss of habitat. According to CCF, all through Africa's numbers of the cheetah are

decreasing even within protected wildlife reserves due to competition increase from other larger

predators such as hyenas and lions. Due to this, most areas protected are not able to retain viable

populations of cheetah, so only cats tend to fan out beyond reserves of wildlife, placing them in

greater human conflict danger.

Saving the existence of cheetahs is not something that any one individual or organization can do

on their own. It requires everyone, collaborating to save the cheetah from extinction. Securing a

future for a cheetah is the same case for preserving the future of the individuals who live in

countries where cheetahs exist.

Ralph Lauren, an American corporation that design, create, and distribute apparel and accessories,

seeks to collaborate with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to save cheetahs from extinction. This is

due to the fact that cheetahs are currently vulnerable seeing that most of them have been killed

while others are lacking better habitations that support their survival. The cheetah that doesn't

survive in the wild come from less diverse, smaller gene pool leaving them vulnerable to predation

and disease in their right.

Besides, confined breeding has proven to be tricky, and wildlife biologists are pessimistic that such

efforts can have a significant measurable impact on the future of cheetahs. The future of cheetahs

may seem unclear, but conservationists have been working to reduce the drop in some areas. There

is a campaign by Ralph Lauren and WWF to protect cheetahs from being killed by livestock

farmers and other predators. CCF and WWF have close links and helps in sharing and training

program successes with other countries where cheetah live.

There are diligent efforts aimed to mitigate conflict between humans and cheetahs as well as

establish community-based initiatives to enhance livelihoods of rural people and the adoption of

livestock guarding dogs. One of the approaches encompasses developing alternative income

sources in eco-tourism, offering economic incentives for predator-friendly products, and educating

people to make value-added products derived from their domestic animals. This is important

because preservation of cheetah existence brings tremendous value to the economy of a country,

as it compels eco-tourism.

Cheetah plays a role in maintaining the delicate balance of the ecosystem, and such a healthy

ecosystem is appropriate for everybody. It is also important to mention that a healthy ecosystem

also leads to the growth of organizations such as the Ralph Lauren. By communicating about the
significance of cheetah existence, it can be easier to save this magnificent species for future

generations. There is a need to enlighten people on how they can handle and interact with preys as

well as predators.

With the new technologies, Ralph Lauren has allocated $500, 000 to support various cheetah home

range territories as well as provide education and improve the livelihood of people. The company

will also print t-shirts and create accessories with a tagline "Saving cheetah for future generations."

In fact, the initiative will be enhanced by international collaboration which has been backing up

and guiding in a conservation effort to save this remaining last population of cheetahs, particularly

in Africa and Asia. For instance, CCF had already livestock guarding dogs and helped launch

diverse programs in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana. The collaboration runs funds

for conserving cheetah and also working to retain natural habitat. There are plans too to connect

wildlife habitat by securing safe passage through their landscapes. As society enlarges its reach

and wild places are directed increasingly for development, old corridors of migration have been

disrupted and compromise of habitat enhanced.

Undoubtedly, the association between human and wildlife task is to assist wildlife to flourish, even

in the setting of an intensifying human footprint economic growth and infrastructure. Everyone

approves that a way must be initiated to marry the interests of economic evolvement where poor

people and wildlife overlap. Prosper as conservationists; we must assist people to link to wild

nature, guarantee that wildlife can connect to what remains of scrappy habitats, and motivate

people to care about conservation as they improve their economic and personal futures.