Tuesday 26 June 2012

New at blogging - lots to share


Cheetah Challenge Participants


This blog will be a way for our education team to share some of the amazing moments we have, both at the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre, and all over the country as we travel with our ambassador animals.


Background about CHEETA...


Jedi the Anatolian Guard dog ambassador
The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre (formerly De Wildt) has run an Education Outreach Programme since 2003 under the auspices of the De Wildt Cheetah Trust. The objective has been to visit disadvantaged communities with an Ambassador Cheetah and to educate children and young adults about the need to take care of Animals and the Environment.  The Programme consists of various talks at different levels, supported by PowerPoint presentations, experiential learning exercises, and several learning aids in the form of posters and work sheets. There is a workbook for teachers, which encourages them to use the lessons learned as the basis of other learning in the school curriculum - and also results in a more optimistic outlook amongst the teachers.  To date over 50 000 children have benefited from the programme.

Learners have experienced this learning at the Cheetah Centre and also at their schools. Byron, the Ambassador Cheetah has also been used as an enabler for creating awareness amongst corporates for funding of the Education Programme and for needy schools who urgently require computers and other resources.

Last year it was decided to form a specific Education Trust (CHEETA) and to look at making the Programmes and learning outcomes more sustainable for children in disadvantaged communities.

The idea is to use the Cheetah as a symbol of survival and sustainability and to teach young people about overcoming challenges and being catalysts in their communities for the preservation of natural resources and the improvement of their own lives. 
 

Background about Ann van Dyk...

2011

The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre

celebrates its 40th anniversary

 

The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre
The Centre was established in South Africa in 1971, in the past known as the De Wildt Cheetah Centre it has recently been changed to The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre as a tribute to the woman who has devoted her life to the survival of the cheetah species.
Mission

To ensure the long term survival of the Cheetah, African Wild Dog and other wild animals in general.

Aims

  • To breed rare and endangered species (which includes the cheetah and African wild dog).
  • To support scientific investigations into all aspects of these species.
  • To promote public awareness - particularly amongst the younger generation - of the pressing need for wildlife preservation: to afford visitors to the Centre of the opportunity of viewing endangered species such as the cheetah and African wild dog, in natural surroundings and at close quarters.
  • To continue to play a role in conservation biology by helping to maintain adequate gene pools of rare and endangered species.
  • To generate income to support existing and future breeding projects at the Centre.
  • Where feasible, to re-establish endangered wildlife species into areas where they once occurred naturally.
Today the Centre can look back with satisfaction on a job well done in ensuring the survival of Acinonyx jubatus - the cheetah, successfully breeding the king cheetah in captivity for the first time in the world. While the cheetah breeding project was the base from which Ann launched her conservation ethic, it soon widened to include other endangered animal species, such as the African wild dog, brown hyaena, servals, suni antelope, and riverine rabbits.  Many of these projects such as the suni antelope and riverine rabbits once successfully running have been handed over to other institutions to continue with.

The Centre does not receive any government funding and income generated from tours and the adoption programme is used to subsidise our conservation projects.

Learn more about the breeding project and the conservation projects at the Centre - order a copy of the book 'Cheetahs of De Wildt' written by Founder and Director Ann van Dyk


Byron the ambassador cheetah visiting a school in Ga-Rankuwa

 


www.cheeta.org.za


I look forward to keeping you up to date about some of the latest visits we have had, and exciting news as time goes by.

Rita Groenewald
email  education@dewildt.co.za
Tel: +27 12 504 9906

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