Conservation Fund
Established in 2014, the Cheetah SSP Fund was created using monies generated by the Cheetah Sustainability Program, a cooperative activity of the SSP with AZA institutional participation, a breeding centers consortium, and is led by the Conservation Centers for Species Survival (C2S2). The Cheetah SSP Fund supports the cooperative conservation-related scientific and educational initiatives of the SSP and its collaborators.
These grants are awarded in six categories, all of benefit to the cheetah:
1.) Animal health
2.) Animal welfare
3.) Conservation education
4.) Field conservation and/or reintroduction
5.) Animal management and/or breeding
6.) Basic/applied research
2014
Of a total of 11 proposals that were submitted, representing nearly $121,000 in requests, six projects were approved for a total of $48,450. The following projects have been funded:
- Community Outreach, Education and Research for Cheetah Conservation in Botswana, Cheetah Conservation Botswana
- The Kruger National Park 6th Wild Dog and 4th Cheetah Photographic Census, Endangered Wildlife Trust
- Resolving human-cheetah conflict and determining conservation hotspots in Tanzania’s Ruaha landscape, Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, University of Oxford
- Future Farmers of Africa, Cheetah Conservation Fund
-Identifying conserved proteins involved in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in the cheetah, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
- Conservation monitoring of the Critically Endangered Asiatic Cheetahs in Central Iran, Iranian Cheetah Society
2015
2015 marks the second year that this grant has been available and we received six proposals, representing nearly $47,000 in requests. Through a peer-reviewed process, the grant was able to support all of the projects at least in part, totaling $37,162 in awards. The projects are:
- Pilot Fecal Genetic and Occupancy Model, Action for Cheetahs in Kenya
- How Healthy Is Our Captive Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) Population? Are Founders Really Unrelated?, Cheetah Conservation Fund
- Future Farmers of Africa, Cheetah Conservation Fund
- Elimination of the Illegal Trade in Cheetah in Southern Africa through a Coordinated National Studbook and Development of a Fully Ratified African Preservation Program (APP) for Cheetah, Cheetah Outreach
- South Africa’s Cheetah Metapopulation Project, Endangered Wildlife Trust
- Non-Invasive Detection of Protein Biomarkers for Early Pregnancy Diagnosis in the Cheetah, Smithsonian National Zoological Park/ Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute