Preble County resident Brian Badger of Lewisburg traveled to Somaliland in the Horn of Africa last month to assist with a monumental move of rescued wildlife. He is pictured with a rescued cheetah.
Submitted
LEWISBURG — Preble County resident Brian Badger of Lewisburg (originally from London, England,) traveled to Somaliland in the Horn of Africa on Feb. 5 to assist with a monumental move of rescued wildlife.
Badger is the Director of Conservation and Outreach for the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) based out of Namibia in Southwest Africa. For the last 10 years, he has been working throughout Africa to help to establish holistic conservation programs. This approach identifies wildlife conservation conflicts, and addresses them by helping the people first.
Almost 100 cheetah cubs, confiscated as they were being smuggled through the illegal wildlife trafficking trade routes, are being cared for in safe houses in a new center built through donations in Somaliland, according to Badger. Somaliland is a developing country which broke away from Somalia in 1991, and happens to be the last stop before traffickers try to cross the Gulf of Aden into Yemen and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.
From there, they send the fragile, weak, and hungry cubs into the underground pet trade where wealthy buyers seek to use them as luxury pet status symbols. “It is estimated only one in six cubs actually make it alive to the safe houses. Many cubs which arrive are sick, injured, and scared,” a press release noted. While volunteers from across the globe have been making the trip to the safe houses to help care for the cubs, CCF has been working with local people to create jobs centered around facility operations and help the developing country’s economy through ecotourism. CCF also continues to work beyond Africa to educate people on why the illegal pet trade is so harmful.
Where do you put almost 100 non-releasable wildcats that were nursed and fed by humans? Moving the cubs out of the country was not an option due to political challenges, according to Badger. CCF has been working with the Somaliland government to solve the problem, as well as create a motivation for the government to create an opportunity that will allow everyone to prosper.
The first National Park of Somaliland is now being established, spanning thousands of acres, where the cheetahs will be allowed to roam freely, but under protection. Badger helped move about a third of the cubs from the safe houses to the new Cheetah Rescue & Conservation Centre (CRCC) and document this unprecedented endeavor. Once established, the new National Park will be able to host tourists in that region giving visitors a chance to see Africa’s most endangered cat, all while supporting ecotourism.
CCF has been working in Namibia since 1990 to help save the cheetah from extinction. Most cheetahs live nomadically across farmland in their native ranges, and because they are one of the few daytime predators, they are often mistakenly blamed for killing livestock simply because they are easy to “spot.”
By offering numerous educational programs, resources, and local community engagement, the perspective has helped change the stigma of predators on farmland, while also creating ecotourism livelihoods. Thanks to these programs, the farmers have decreased livestock loss by 80-100 percent, according to Badger. CCF’s conservation model is now being studied by many groups hoping to achieve the same success.
Badger left Somaliland in early March, and is now working in Namibia to aid in a biomass fuel project that removes invasive plants, restores habitat for cheetah and all wildlife, creates jobs and turns those plants into a renewable fuel source.
Badger met his wife Amanda, who founded Wild Hearts African Farm in Lewisburg, in 2015 while she was in Namibia studying conservation. The couple married in 2016 and Brian moved from Africa to Ohio. Brian helps Amanda with the farm’s operations when he is not in Africa or presenting lectures internationally.
When Brian Badger returns, he will be presenting a lecture on Thursday, May 25, at 6 p.m. at Wild Hearts in Lewisburg for anyone who would like to learn more about CCF’s conservation program. Tickets ($15) can be purchased at wildheartsafricanfarm.org. All proceeds will benefit CCF’s conservation efforts.
