Cheetah Conservation Fund

Background
The Cheetah is a globally threatened species and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red Data List (Hilton-Taylor 2000) and as an Appendix I species by the CITES. The global cheetah populations have been estimated between 9,000 and 12,000 individuals, mainly distributed in the Southern and Eastern parts of Africa, but also in North Africa, the Sahelian region and Iran. The main threats affecting cheetah’s survival worldwide are habitat loss and fragmentation, a declining prey base, a rough competition with sympatric large predators, and conflicts with human populations through livestock (Marker 2000, Global Cheetah Conservation Action Plan 2001).

For several years, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) has identified Algeria as a focal country supporting an internationally important cheetah population. However, almost no information regarding the biology and ecology of the species in Algeria is available for specialists and researchers.

Ahaggar National Park
In March 2005, CCF conducted a wildlife survey mission was conducted in the Ahaggar National Park. During this mission, the presence of cheetahs was confirmed and geo-referenced in several localities of the northern and eastern regions of the Ahaggar massif, and nomadic herders indicated that cheetahs were a problem for their livestock.

The Ahaggar National Park represents a very large protected area (ca. 450,00km2) in the mountainous zone of central south-eastern Algeria. Like many other areas of the Sahara, the large flagship antelopes of the Ahaggar, notably addax and dama gazelle, are believed to have become extinct in the last 30-40 year, but internationally important species such as dorcas gazelle, barbary sheep and particularly the elusive Saharan cheetah are still present, though their relative numbers and distribution is only partially known.

Information gathered on cheetah during the survey showed that human activity was focused in eastern and western parts of the survey route. Here, local people mentioned that they considered cheetah a nuisance to camels, but not so much to small stock which are protected by herding and guard dogs. The survey concluded that there was good evidence that the Ahaggar continues to support an internationally important population of cheetahs. No estimates of population size can be made on present data, but the survey demonstrated an area of occupancy approximating at least 10,000km2.

Artemis Small Grant
The Cheetah Conservation Fund applied to Tusk for a small grant to complete a full survey of Algeria and developing a cheetah conservation plan for the country in cooperation with conservation partners. This grant was awarded for work that will be conducted during 2007 and 2008.

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