Want to rake and shovel tons of goat
poop every few days? Pick up fresh
carnivore scat with a twig? Care to
clean cheetah pens – all the while fending off the thorns of
the omnipresent acacia bush? Perhaps
you’d prefer to spend hours doing data entry, sitting in front of a computer
and entering statistics from game count drives, or separating out
microscopic-sized hairs from fecal samples for analysis?
Perhaps not. But then, how would you ever know the joy of
beginning each morning’s journey to The Hotspot with a detour to watch baby
goats cavort and bleat in their joyous, silly way? And how would you ever be lucky enough to
greet each morning, afternoon, and evening with the sight of lean, magnificent
cheetahs walking their regal stride, splayed out in the shade of a tree, heads
raised poised and alert, or accelerating with the speed and grace that makes
them so captivating? And how would you
ever feel that connection, that rush, upon looking into a cheetah’s face and
seeing that artistic tapestry of spots and lines and those haunting eyes,
orange orbs that return your gaze and make you feel humbled? And how would you ever get to be part of the
world of this remarkable animal and the effort to ensure its survival … while
surrounded by sights and sounds of Africa’s beauty: kudus and warthogs at a watering hole;
giraffes, oryx, zebra, red hartebeest, eland, ostrich dispersed in a golden
field; breathtaking sunsets with the
Waterburg plateau as a backdrop; and memorable sounds of the hornbill, the
lorie bird, and the korhaan?
Hill and I, lifelong criminal
defense attorneys from NYC, dedicated to representing the indigent, returned to
CCF as volunteers for a second time because we feel both inspired and
privileged to be part of this endeavor not just to save the cheetah but also to
do so in a way that might, hopefully, be a catalyst and model for preserving
other wildlife here and elsewhere. We
hope to return yet again, to join the mission and dedicated, welcoming staff of
CCF.
Miriam
Hibel & Hillard Wiese
August,
24, 2013
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