Ben Spearing is a Biology student at Oregon State University who is currently interning in Namibia through IE3 Global Internships. Ben is working with the Cheetah Conservation Fund, an organization that aims to conserve cheetahs and their ecosystems. The largest and healthiest remaining population of cheetahs is in Otjiwarango, Namibia, making it a prime location for the CCF’s International Research and Education Centre, where Ben is an intern.

Check out a recent update from Ben below!

When a cheetah is still releasable there are quite a few steps that Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) needs to take before being able to let it back into the wild. Usually, cheetahs that end up here have been set back in development in one way or another. They may have lost their mother at a young age so they didn’t learn to be a cheetah, or they may have been injured and needed to be taken in for surgery or dentistry work. Either way, we need to be sure that these cats have what it takes to go out into the wild and be successful. Opening a carcass, finding water holes, proper hunting techniques, and predator avoidance are some of the things that a cheetah must know to survive. These tactics are put to test in our soft release camp called Bellebeno. This is a game reserve that contains game and water holes that the cheetah must use to survive. Cheetahs placed in Bellebeno will be monitored and, if deemed successful, will then be taken to a nearby reserve to be released into the wild. Further monitoring is done on the cheetah while it is the wild to make sure everything is going alright. This whole process has recently happened with two adult females here at CCF named Luna and Athena. Just the other day they were taken to the wild. This is a big part of what CCF strives to do, and we all have a fingers crossed that these two girls continue to thrive while on their own.

To view the original entry as well as Ben’s other blog entries, please visit: http://benspearing1.blogspot.com/