Doreen Browne

Doreen started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach when the programme began in 1997 and over the years has given her Saturday to work at the facility.  Since retirement, Doreen also works every Thursday.  Doreen became a cheetah handler in 2001 and is also a small animal handler.  She helps out with onsite functions as well as at fund-raising events.  She is very involved in animal enrichment and spends time walking our caracal Grace.  Thank you for all the time and support you have given the programme from the beginning

Patrick Browne

Patrick started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach when the programme began in 1997 and over the years has given his Saturday to work at the facility despite a very busy career.  Patrick is a small animal handler and has a very close relationship with our meerkats.  He is very involved in animal enrichment and spends time walking the meerkats.  He is also very involved in fund-raising events and has adopted our female meerkat Minki.  Thank you for all the time and support you have given the programme from the beginning

Debby Wettlaufer

Debby started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in 2000.  In 2004 she moved to Kenya for 3 ½ years where she was involved in lion conservation, but returned to Cape Town at the end of 2007 and re- joined the Cheetah Outreach team.  Debby became a cheetah handler in 2001 and helped with raising cubs from 2001 to 2003.  She also helps out with onsite functions.  Debby started an enrichment programme for the animals at Cheetah Outreach in 2009 and spends much of her time engaged in enrichment and training activities.  She adopted our caracal Grace, whom she takes on walks every week.  Besides work at the facility, she is responsible for maintaining animal information for staff and volunteers, maintaining the enrichment and livestock guarding dog databases, and helping to maintain the CO website and Facebook pages.   Thank you for your dedication to improving the well-being of our animals.

Mike Calvin

Mike started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in 2000.  In 2004 he moved to Kenya for 3 ½ years where he was involved in lion conservation, but returned to Cape Town at the end of 2007 and re-joined the Cheetah Outreach team.  Mike became a cheetah handler in 2001 and helped with raising cubs from 2001 to 2003.  He is also a small animal handler and spends time engaged in animal enrichment, especially with the servals whom he has a close relationship to.  Mike as safety officer has written the overall safety protocol and advises on all safety issues.  He has created both the CO website and Facebook page, and spends much time maintaining them.  Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the safety of animals and people at CO.

Lesta Rothero

Lesta started volunteering in 2001 and has become an essential part of the team, always ready to step in and help at short notice. Besides working at the facility, she oversees the care of all our dogs, making sure they are walked on a regular basis, and helped with the birth and care of all the puppies born to our breeding females before they moved to Limpopo. She is also one of our main small animal handlers, doing encounters that have become very popular with the public. Cheetah Outreach would not be the same without Lesta!

Mandi Wyngaard

Mandi started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in 2009 and works around her busy schedule as a fitness instructor in order to help out whenever she can. She became a cheetah handler in 2011 but her passion is working with the cubs, both at the cub facility on Eikendal and at our facility. She has become very involved in the cub-rearing programme and has been over-seeing it since 2014. We thank Mandi for giving up her free time to volunteer at Cheetah Outreach and for all her help with the cub programme.

Jacqui Friedling

Jacqui started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in 2010 and since then has become a regular.  Despite a busy and demanding career as a doctor, Jacqui still finds time to help us out almost every Sunday as well as during the holidays, days that other volunteers are often not available.  Through her work, she has also provided us with lots of enrichment items for our small carnivores. She is both a cheetah and small animal handler. She has adopted our servals Baggins and Legacy.  Many thanks to Jacqui for her continuing support

Tammy Richmond

Tammy started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in March 2013, giving up one of her days-off from her regular job every week to work on Saturdays.  She became a cheetah handler in 2015 and also does bat- eared fox and caracal encounters as well as cub and dog walks and enrichment with our small carnivores and cheetahs.  Her commitment and enthusiasm have made her an important part of the Saturday team, and we thank her for her dedication and hard work.

Frances Mitchell

Frances started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in 2013 and is now a regular on Wednesdays, helping with tours, in the shop, feeding and spending time with the Anatolians, and helping out with cheetah encounters. Her dedication and enthusiasm make Frances a welcome addition to the Cheetah Outreach team.

Lynn Fitzpatrick

Lynn started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in October 2017, giving up one of her days off to come in on the weekend to help out at the facility.  She has always wanted to work with wildlife, and loves spending time with and getting to know the cheetahs and small animals.  She also enjoys talking to guests, sharing knowledge and explaining the role of Cheetah Outreach in wildlife conservation.  Besides being a cheetah back-handler,Lynn helps with feeding our small predators and doing enrichment with the animals.  She is currently training to be a meerkat and bat- eared fox handler. We are lucky to have such a dedicated volunteer in Lynn. .

Tony Fitzpatrick

Tony started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in October 2017, giving up one of his days off to come in on the weekend to help out at the facility.  Besides being a cheetah back-handler, he helps with feeding our small predators, walking and training dogs, and doing enrichment with the animals.  Tony is currently training to be a meerkat and bat-eared fox handler.  We appreciate all the time and effort he gives to Cheetah Outreach.

Melanie Stevenson

Melanie started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in April 2018, quickly becoming a regular volunteer that we could depend on.  She has a great love for animals and having studied for a degree in Applied Biology and Biochemistry, is thrilled to be working in the conservation field.  She loves working hands on with the animals but also helping to make a difference for these predators in the wild.  Besides being a cheetah back-handler, Melanie helps with feeding our small predators, walking dogs and doing enrichment with the animals.  She is currently training to be a meerkat and bat-eared fox handler.  We are grateful to have such a dedicated volunteer on our team

Tyle Swart

Tyle started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in September 2018.  She has always been fascinated by wild animals, and is thrilled to be able to work closely with and build relationships with the animals at CO.  She also enjoys having the opportunity to educate the public about the plight of the cheetah and other predator species, and seeing the reaction of guests when meeting a cheetah for the first time.  Besides being a cheetah back-handler, Tyle helps with feeding our small predators, walking dogs and doing enrichment with animals, which she is especially keen about.  She is currently training to be a meerkat and bat-eared fox handler.  We are lucky to have such a committed volunteer who loves being with the animals.

Nia Burg

Nia started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in September 2021 and has been coming in 5 days a week ever since then.  She started working with the meerkats in April 2022 and soon became their primary care-giver, devoting much time to their care and enrichment.  She started training to be a cheetah handler in June 2022.  Nia has wanted to work with wild animals all her life so this is a dream come true for her.  Cheetah Outreach is very happy to be part of that dream as she has become an invaluable member of the team.  Thanks for all you give to CO, Nia!

Owen Swart

Owen started volunteering at Cheetah Outreach in June 2019; in June 2022 he started training to be a cheetah handler.  Despite his busy and unpredictable filming schedule, he tries to put in 2 days a week to stay connected with animals and colleagues at CO.  What he enjoys most at CO is spending time with the ambassadors, especially the cheetahs, fielding challenging questions from guests, and helping to train new up-and-coming volunteers.  We are very lucky to have such a dedicated volunteer who is willing to give up his limited free time to help raise awareness about the plight of the cheetah.