Conservation issues around cheetahs

Habitat loss and fragmentation are the main threats to the cheetah. Current dogma on cheetah conservation maintains that most protected areas are not large enough to sustain viable populations because the cheetah is wide ranging and especially vulnerable to interspecific competition. The emphasis has been on promoting coexistence with humans and in concentrating efforts outside protected areas. Here it is argued that the establishment and maintenance of large nature reserves should be the priority and that a triage approach should be applied to identifying suitable areas over a spectrum of landscapes for the conservation of ecological processes of which the cheetah is an integral part. Ecotourism and philanthropy are important aspects of conservation funding, and the divisive question of fencing needs to be addressed. Conserving cheetahs outside protected areas is most useful where this might facilitate the maintenance of corridors between functional ecosystems with all their species components.