Cheetah Paparazzi

Kenzie Armstrong
Cincinnati, OH
Cheetah Conservation Fund
Otjiwarongo, Namibia

Pictured L to R: Cheetah Keeper Becky, me,
 Head Cheetah Keeper Lora

Hello! It’s Kenzie again! I am about 6 weeks into my 8 week internship here at the Cheetah Conservation Fund and have a few updates from my last post. A few weeks ago I was assigned the Head Husbandry Intern, which meant I would be working closely with the cheetah care team every single day to take care of all 36 cheetahs in CCF’s care. Working so closely with the cheetahs and the keepers has definitely been the highlight of my time here in Namibia. I’ve gotten to know each cheetah better, understanding their personalities and being able to tell them apart (a lot more difficult than you’d think).

Some might think that being on husbandry every day might become sort of monotonous but here at CCF there is always something new to experience. With it being the busy season, there are more and more guests and big tour groups coming every single day. This means more Behind The Scenes (BTS). BTS are a great way to give people a taste of what the keepers and I do every single day with the cheetahs. For a typical BTS, guests come with us on husbandry to help feed 10 of the 36 cheetahs. They ride in the back of the husbandry truck with myself or another intern and we drive to the enclosures, run the cheetahs, and throw them treats and their big piece of meat. This was a great opportunity to share information about the different cheetahs and well as how CCF is helping save the species with the different programs they run. Working the BTS really gave me the opportunity to work on my public speaking skills and be able to share with people from all around the world my passion for these wonderful cats.

Example PowerPoint slides

I am currently working on finishing up my two main projects that combine two of my passions, working with big cats and photography. Remembering the names and histories of 36 cheetahs is a challenge for anyone, especially new interns, so I wanted to create an easy and accessible way for new interns, staff, and working guests to learn all the information about the cheetahs. I am putting together an I.D. PowerPoint that will have the name, sex, age, history, defining characteristic and behaviors, roommates, fun facts, and photo for each cheetah. Below are examples of what the slides look like. The Care Team already had a basic outline with the information I needed so it was rather easy to put together. The hard part was taking all the photos (sometimes the cheetahs didn’t like the paparazzi). Luckily, I already had some photos of each cheetah from my other project, Sponsor Update Photos. Every 6 months or so CCF sends out update letters to all of those who sponsored a cheetah. Each letter contains a photo of the cheetah and it was my job to take the photos for this round of letters. Being responsible for photographing the cheetahs gave me the opportunity to become more familiar with each of the cats and be able to tell them apart more easily.

Example of Sponsor Update Photos
Pictured: Dominic, Ron, Livingston, phil, Polly, Sasha, Smartman, Jaya, Rohini

In my last couple weeks here at CCF, I will be busy finishing up projects and taking in as much of Africa as I possibly can. I am saving up my off days to go to Erindi, a private game reserve, for two days. CCF has a close relationship with Erindi and releases some of their cheetahs on their property. Hopefully I will be able to see some of the hard work CCF has done with rehabilitating these cheetahs.