You can't talk about South Africa without talking about its wildlife — but the spectacular safari experience is only the curtain in front of the pressing conversation around education that our conservation sector needs to have.
The nature of digital technology creates a root cause of many misconceptions, one such being how to sustainably interact with our country's wildlife. That is to say, what the public sees on social media heavily skews their understanding of what wildlife preservation really means.
For the changemakers in this industry, one of the biggest challenges is correcting these misconstrued ideas, helping people grasp the real long-term realities of ecological restoration and instilling the understanding that wild animals are not for entertainment.
Running Wild Cheetah Conservation actively works to clear that confusion through ethical cheetah and other wild cat rewilding. Co-Founder and Director Elizke Gouws explains the realities of confronting industry scepticism while running an independent conservation facility, and what it takes to change the conversation around wildlife communication.
You describe years of resistance to your approach to cheetah breeding and rewilding, followed by greater collaboration with breeders and conservation bodies. What would you say changed those conversations in practice?
In the early years, there were only a few attempts to rewild captive-born cheetahs and they were mainly unsuccessful, largely due to mistakes in the approaches used. These failures led many to believe that reintroducing captive-born cheetahs was not a viable conservation option.
Rather than dismissing those failures, we studied them. We used the lessons learned, combined with our own experience and research, to develop our unique 10-step rewilding protocol, designed to address the factors that had contributed to previous unsuccessful releases. Our subsequent releases have demonstrated encouraging results and our work has attracted increasing interest from within the conservation sector.
Today, some of the organisations and individuals who once questioned this approach are approaching us for advice and exploring future possibilities for reintroducing cheetahs.
Our goal has never been to breed cheetahs simply to increase captive numbers. We believe there are already too many cheetahs in captivity, within an industry driven partly by breeding and selling animals. We have consistently advocated for an alternative: breeding specifically for reintroduction and giving cheetahs a genuine future in the wild.
Although the industry has not disappeared, we have seen a more constructive dialogue around the need to move away from commercial breeding and trading towards meaningful conservation outcomes.
We believe persistence, practical experience and a willingness to learn from past mistakes have helped change those conversations.
A cheetah's release is a milestone, but survival and reproduction after release is the paramount objective. Which indicators do you consider meaningful when communicating the influence of your work, and how do you explain results that cannot yet be measured conclusively?
For us, releasing a cheetah is the beginning — not the finish line. Success depends on whether that animal can adapt, survive independently and eventually contribute to a wild population.
Reproduction is an important indicator, but it depends on several factors. A female must feel secure in her new environment before she is likely to breed, while a male needs to establish a territory that females may enter when they are in oestrus. These behaviours take time and cannot be judged simply by how an animal performs immediately after release.
We also look at hunting ability, avoidance of larger predators, appropriate social and territorial behaviour, independence from humans, and the ability to avoid conflict with people. Where monitoring allows, survival, movement patterns, physical condition, reproduction and the survival of offspring provide further insight.
The majority of our released cheetahs have, thus far, demonstrated encouraging signs in these areas. However, we believe it is important to distinguish between positive observations and proven long-term outcomes. Wildlife conservation requires patience, and some results can only be established through continued monitoring over years. Our ambition is to contribute to self-sustaining wild populations, not simply to achieve more releases.
When you decide what to share publicly, how do you balance the appeal of an individual animal's story with the need to explain the wider pressures affecting cheetah populations?
Social media has both advantages and disadvantages. It allows us to reach people across the world, but today's online environment is often driven by quick visuals, likes and followers. People may watch a video without reading the caption, making it difficult to communicate the full conservation message.
We have noticed that baby animals and cheetah cubs attract particularly strong attention. We use that interest as an opportunity to tell a bigger story: who these animals are, why they are in our care, how they are being raised and how we prepare them for a future in the wild.
We are very conscious of what we share. We do not promote cub petting, animal tricks, or content that contradicts our conservation ethics.
Our animals are not entertainment; their stories should help people understand wildlife and the responsibility we have towards it.
Behind every individual story are wider challenges, including habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, illegal trade and the vulnerability of small or isolated populations. These problems cannot be solved by rescuing individual animals alone. They require habitat protection, responsible management, collaboration, and opportunities for wildlife to survive and reproduce in natural environments.
Our hope is that people who initially follow us because they love seeing cheetah cubs grow will eventually look deeper, understand the challenges facing the species and recognise why returning animals to the wild matters.
While wildlife enthusiasts instinctively grasp the importance of your work, the wider public may be too far removed from the issue at hand to comprehend its significance. How do you make the case for conservation to people who have no existing connection to wildlife preservation?
We cannot expect everyone to be interested in conservation from the outset. Many people are removed from wildlife issues and are understandably focused on their own families, work and daily challenges.
For us, the first step is to capture their attention through something relatable. A young cheetah, a rescued serval, or a family of growing cubs can create an emotional connection. That connection gives us an opportunity to introduce people to the bigger picture through our social media, educational programmes and conservation work.
We want people to understand that conservation is not simply about saving individual animals. It is about protecting biodiversity, maintaining healthy ecosystems and ensuring future generations can experience wildlife living freely in its natural environment.
We also try to show the reality behind the beautiful photographs. Conservation involves difficult decisions, ongoing costs, setbacks and years of dedication. Rescue is important, but rehabilitation and rewilding require us to think beyond the immediate needs of an animal and consider its long-term future.
We do not believe in making people feel guilty for not already being conservation-minded. We would rather invite them to learn, become involved and understand that even small contributions can support meaningful work.
If someone starts by watching a video of a cheetah cub and ends up understanding why that animal needs to return to the wild, we have taken an important first step.
Without government support or daily income from public visitors, how does Running Wild Conservation fund its work, and what challenges does this create?
Our funding model is quite different from that of many wildlife facilities. We are strictly not open for daily public visits and we do not rely on entrance fees, cub petting, animal encounters, or the sale of animals.
Our primary source of income is our international volunteer and student programme. Participants travel to South Africa to learn about conservation and take part in appropriate practical activities under our guidance. Their fees contribute towards the sanctuary's daily operations, including animal food, veterinary care, staff salaries, accommodation, maintenance, fuel and facility upkeep.
These expenses continue every day, regardless of whether we have a full group of participants, a quiet month, or an unexpected veterinary emergency. Volunteer numbers fluctuate with travel trends, seasonal demand, exchange rates and participants' financial circumstances, while the animals' needs remain constant.
Grants and external funding can be valuable, but they are often competitive, restricted to specific projects, or unavailable for everyday operating expenses. Consequently, we must work continuously to maintain responsible educational programmes, attract suitable participants and manage our resources carefully.
We are proud that our educational programme allows people from around the world to contribute to conservation while learning about wildlife. Their fees are not simply payment for an experience — they help sustain an operation with substantial responsibilities and ongoing expenses.
Our greatest challenge is securing the long-term financial stability needed to strengthen our rewilding work and create more opportunities for wildlife to return to the wild.
For us, financial sustainability and conservation success are inseparable. Every rand must help care for the animals, support the people who work with them and build towards a future in which more wildlife can live freely in its natural environment.
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*Image courtesy of Running Wild Cheetah Conservation and Canva