OUR PARTNERS

HESC cooperates on an informal and formal level with various institutions and organisations to conduct its conservation and tourism programmes and has affiliations with the following:

Animal Defenders International

Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre

Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species

Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Cheetah Metapopulation Project

World Wildlife Fund

Mabula Ground Hornbill Project

National Zoological Gardens

Pan-African Association of Zoos and Aquaria

Southern Africa Tourism Services Association

Tourism Business Council of South Africa

The University of Pretoria

US FRIENDS OF HESC

US Friends of HESC, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organisation in the USA dedicated to the conservation of wildlife. Donors living in the United States who contribute to HESC through the organisation receive a tax-deductible certificate.

The organisation was established by New York couple Allen and Heidi Roberts in 2006 after a visit to HESC while they were staying at Jabulani Safaris (then known as Camp Jabulani). They left very impressed with the conservation programmes being conducted at HESC and decided to help in whatever way they could. The fundraising dinner parties in their Park Avenue home over the years not only raised significant funds for HESC but have become a highlight on the New York social calendar.

Charitable contributions to US Friends of HESC are deductible for US Income Tax purposes, to the extent allowed by law. EIN 13-4347275.
Contact Heidi Roberts | E. her.hesc@gmail.com | T: +1 212 888 6710

PATRON

Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent serves as the royal patron of HESC. Her association with HESC and founder Lente Roode goes back many years and she regularly visits our Centre. She hosted a fundraising dinner for HESC at Kensington Palace in 2006.

The Princess’s passion for cheetahs and a lifelong interest in the conservation of the species developed when she was given an orphaned cheetah cub to raise after its mother had been caught in a trap and died. At the time she was a young girl of 18 visiting her father’s farm in Mozambique in the 1960s. She hand-reared the cub that was years later released into the Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. Her experiences were recorded and published in September 2017 in her book A Cheetah’s Tale.

SPONSORS/
DONORS

While the conservation and rehabilitation of endangered and other animal species is our passion, the financial responsibility is huge, and we often struggle to make ends meet. For this reason, HESC relies on corporate and individual sponsors and donors to sustain and conduct its programmes. We also offer cheetahs and other animals for adoption and fostering to generate operational funding. We are not in the business to make profit, nor does the owner Lente Roode reap any financial benefit from our programmes.

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUST

The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) was established by a deed of trust as a public benefit organisation in February 2015 to source funding for the conservation, research and education programmes of HESC. Funding is also sourced for HERD, established in 2019.

CONSULTANTS

Because of the nature of the work conducted at HESC, we regularly require and obtain advice from scientific specialists recognised for their experience in and knowledge of wildlife matters. Some practise on their own and some are associated with recognised tertiary institutions and wildlife organisations. All give willingly of their time and share expertise when needed.

ANIMAL INTERACTION POLICY

HESC maintains a strict policy of no contact or interaction with animals kept on the property. Our policy is aligned with international trends based on animal ethics and welfare and is aimed at ensuring the safety and health of both animals and visitors. Our policy further endorses the right of animals to live a life without fear, which is often the consequence of close contact with humans with whom they are not acquainted. We avoid human-imprinting, whereby the animals will identify more with humans than with their own species and cause them to become problem animals once released.