Annie Beckhelling

In January 1997, founder Annie Beckhelling, launched the project with a hectare of land provided by Spier Wine Estates located in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Cheetah Outreach then set out to introduce cheetah to the South African community. Educational efforts began with two cheetahs: Shadow, a one-year-old male, capable of traveling to community events, and Inca, a six- year-old male, whose role was to greet Spier visitors. In the first year alone, Cheetah Outreach and Shadow, visited more than 50,000 people by traveling to educational facilities, community clubs, hotels, malls, and various public events. At Spier, with an average annual visitorship of 350,000 people, Inca was able to greet more than 10 percent of the guests touring the lovely estate. Since our successful beginning, Cheetah Outreach quickly expanded with the arrival of three cubs in September 1997. Nyana-Spier, Charlie-Girl and Moya enjoyed the public attention. Moya was donated to the Angel Trust Fund (Cincinnati, Ohio) to assist them with their efforts of raising awareness for the plight of the cheetah. Our facility is continually evolving and growing and we are taking on more challenges than ever before. We are actively involved in cub rearing and in the Anatolian Shepherd Guarding Dog programme in South Africa.

Dawn Glover

Manager Dawn, a zoologist, is overall manager of Cheetah Outreach. Dawn started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in October 1997 and joined as full-time staff in January 1999, heading the education programme and ensuring that awareness of the plight of the cheetah was spread through the community through school visits, teacher workshops, incorporating conservation into school curriculums and other activities. She attained her Masters in Environmental Education in 2006. In 2016 Dawn took over running Cheetah Outreach with responsibility for all aspects of the organization.

Bonga Matina

Bonga started working at Cheetah Outreach in January 2008.  He started out helping with maintenance and in the kitchen but showed so much promise after his first year that he was trained to be a handler.  He left Cheetah Outreach at the end of 2012 but continued to come in on Sundays and volunteer, helping out with cheetah encounters.   He came back full-time to Cheetah Outreach in May 2015 and we are very happy to have Bonga back on the team again.  He’s an experienced and hard-working handler who knows all the cats well.

Savannah Abbey

Savannah started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in 2015, working 5 days a week at our facility. Because of her dedication and commitment to cheetah conservation, hard work, and rapport with both people and animals at Cheetah Outreach, she was hired as full-time staff at the end of 2016 and is a full-time cheetah handler. Savannah, well-liked by everyone, is a welcome addition to the Cheetah Outreach team.

Charles Mukaro

Charles started working at Cheetah Outreach in May 2017, helping with maintenance and in the kitchen. He is not only a very hard worker but learns quickly, and now runs the kitchen when needed. Always friendly and smiling, Charles is well liked and a very welcome addition to the Cheetah Outreach team.

Michelle Marneweck

Michelle started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in February 2017, sometimes working 5 days a week. Due to her hard work, commitment and confidence around the animals, she was chosen to help with hand-raising new cubs and was hired as full-time staff in November that year, focusing on handling and husbandry duties. Her love for the animals and her willingness to do whatever is asked of her makes her a welcome addition to the Cheetah Outreach team.

Terrance Gadzayi

Terrance was hired in January 2018 to help with maintenance. Since then he has become indispensable in keeping the facility in good condition and also helping out in the kitchen when necessary. Terrance is an extremely hard worker and takes great pride in his work, always doing a good job whether it be mowing grass in an enclosure or repairing huts and other structures. He's a welcome addition to the Cheetah Outreach team.

Asma ‘Wolfie’ Mahomed

Wolfie started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach on 15 June, 2022 and committed to working 5 days a week.  At the beginning of 2023 she joined the staff as volunteer coordinator, in charge of volunteer orientation, training and supervision.  Besides working closely with the volunteers, she is particularly fond of working with the Anatolians and our caracal Grace.  She is a welcome addition to the team and will bring much-needed focus to the very important volunteer program.

Cyril Stannard

Livestock Guarding Dog Project Manager - Territory West Cyril joined the Cheetah Outreach team in February 2008 as project coordinator of the Livestock Guarding Dog (LDG) Project. He worked with Anatolian shepherd dogs for 10 years, beginning with the Department of Agriculture, before coming to Cheetah Outreach. A big part of his job has been the placement and monitoring of Anatolians on South African farms on a monthly basis to ensure they are working and cared for properly. In 2013, the LGD Project was expanded and divided into 2 territories, with Cyril named project manager of the western territory, where he will continue placing and monitoring dogs in the North West Province, a natural distribution range for wild cheetah. Passionate about Anatolians, he enjoys his work immensely and brings a great deal of experience to this important conservation programme.  .

Deon Cilliers

Livestock Guarding Dog Project Manager - Territory East / Research Officer. Deon joined the Cheetah Outreach team in June 2013 as Livestock Guarding Dog Manager, East Territory. Armed with a National Diploma and MSc in Nature Conservation, he has vast experience working in wildlife conservation. Deon started as an environmental officer for the South African Air Force and later worked as an animal control officer for the Limpopo Department of Conservation. In 2000 he started the De Wildt Wild Cheetah Project and continued until 2009 when he was employed as Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Officer by the Endangered Wildlife Trust. As project manager for the eastern territory of the Livestock Guarding Dog (LGD) Project, he will be placing and monitoring Antolians on livestock and game farms in the Limpopo Province, a natural distribution range for wild cheetah. Deon brings valuable knowledge and experience to the effort to reduce human-predator conflict in South Africa through the LGD Project. He also manages the Cheetah Outreach portfolio of research projects. 

Harry Hinds

Assistant Curator  Harry first volunteered at Cheetah Outreach from 2015 to 2017 before joining the staff in November 2018 as Assistant Curator.  He brings with him a wealth of veterinary experience having worked for over a decade as a Veterinary Assistant in New Zealand, both with domestic and exotic companion animals.  He received a BA in Applied Science in Animal Management and Welfare in 2015, became a Certified Natural Zoological Scientist in 2017 and an Animal Technician in 2018.  He has also published research in the New Zealand Veterinary Journal.  We are very lucky to have someone with Harry’s experience help us look after our animals.

Adrienne Alldermann

Adrienne started helping her friend Annie Beckhelling when she first started Cheetah Outreach in 1997. She has continued to assist with different tasks over the years and in 2015, took over facilitating the education programme and helping Mary set up school visits and develop different education activities. She has now also taken on the administration of the volunteer programme and bookings.