Cheetah conservation efforts in the Coachella Valley to Africa

Director and founder of Action for Cheetahs, Mary Wykstra, works to conserve the Cheetah population. She works alongside The Living Desert here in the Coachella Valley to provide educational outreach here in the community along with her work and research in Africa.

“80% of cheetahs live outside of the parks and reserves. Without people, cheetahs would be extinct right now”

Mary Wykstra has been working to conserve the Cheetah population for over a decade. Since 2009, she has been the Director of Action for Cheetahs in Kenya (ACK), and was the Kenya Director for Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) from 2001 to 2008. She has experience in both Kenya and in Namibia with data collection, cheetah research techniques, capture and immobilization, community development and education. There are only about 7 thousand Cheetahs left in all of Africa, and they are declining at a rate of 2% a year.
The population is on a decline mainly due to land-use change and infrastructure development. Action for Cheetahs is working to improve those risks that are leading to a decline in population.

“What we are trying to do is to study the corridors of how the cheetahs move between pockets of populations that are stable and making sure that those corridors are left open through different types of management of infrastructure — like highway underpasses and overpasses, wildlife zones that remain wildlife zones.”

With conservation efforts happening globally, Zoos like The Living Desert here in the Coachella Valley are also doing their part to help conserve animal species. Zoos are becoming critical to help these species stay alive. They form a “strong base for research through nutrition, breeding, behavioral research and animals in zoos become ambassadors to their species in the wild.”

The Living Desert helps to educate the public and form a connection with these animals.

Mike Chedester, Director of Education at the Living Desert, states “One of the things that we do, is educating our volunteers to help tell those stories about how we are helping to save those animals in the wild.”

For more information on Cheetah conservation efforts with Action for Cheetahs, you can Action for Cheetahs

For more information on The Living Desert you can visit The Living Desert