The National Cheetah Management Program (NCMP) has developed a way to acknowledge the efforts of individual farmers who tolerate the presence of cheetah on their farms.

A farmgate signboard has been designed by the NCMP and the printing thereof was sponsored by the International Cheetah Conservation Foundation (USA). This signboard is made available free of charge to landowners who abide by certain criteria.

The objective behind the farmgate signboard is to give farmers who support the objectives of the NCMP recognition for their efforts, as this usually goes unnoticed by the farming and conservation communities in general. The majority of wild cheetahs reside on private farms and the survival of these cheetahs for future generations depends largely on the attitudes of the farm owners.

A general list of criteria for the issuing of these farmgate signboards has been developed by the NCMP. These criteria include the following:

* Cheetahs must reside either seasonally or permanently on the specific farm.

* The farmer must understand the ecological role of the cheetahs and undertake to respect this.

* Farm management practices of the farm must be adapted in order to accommodate the presence of cheetahs.

* Small game species that act as basic prey for cheetahs must be conserved on the farm.

* The landowner must also undertake to abide by ethical and legal hunting practices and methods on the farm.

* All guests to the farm must be made aware of the fact that wild cheetahs reside there and that these cheetahs may not be destroyed for whatever reason.

* The landowner must undertake to use poisons, for whichever purpose, responsibly on the farm.

* The landowner must support the objectives of the NCMP and also act as ambassador for the NCMP in his community.

* The landowner must undertake to only remove cheetahs that may become a problem due to large-scale economical losses under the principles of the NCMP, using ethical and acceptable methods. All captured cheetahs have to be made available to the NCMP for relocation purposes.

All the above-mentioned criteria are basic principles that will help conserve wild cheetahs in their natural environment. Most landowners, by dint of a fairly simple change in attitude, can comply with these. The NCMP believes that this is the first step in securing reasonably safe core areas for the cheetah to exist in, and also to get landowners more involved in understanding the cheetah as part of the ecological system.

Landowners that are interested in obtaining these farmgate signboards should contact Deon Cilliers at Tel. 0828531068 or Thys de Wet at 0722670634.