Busch Gardens at CCF - Angie Minter

My name is Angie Minter and I have come to CCF as a Conservation Ambassador on behalf of the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.  I am the Training and Development Manager for the Culinary Departments at Busch Gardens and Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Virginia.  I was selected as the first Conservation Ambassador outside of the Zoological team in the company.  When asked if I was interested in traveling to Africa, I jumped at the chance.  SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment is committed to conservation and education and what an amazing opportunity to “walk the talk”.  I believe in the core values and commitment of our company to “celebrate, connect and care for the natural world we share through the power of entertainment”.  Traveling to the Cheetah Conservation Fund took those core values and made them real and actionable for me.  This opportunity was so much bigger than anything I could have ever imagined for myself.

Angie at center of frame

Arriving at CCF in Namibia, I was astounded at the natural beauty of Africa and its animals.  As I started to get involved in the work here at CCF, I was overwhelmed by the dedication the staff and interns here have to saving the species.  I was able to experience everything from feeding dogs to cleaning goat pens to feeding cheetahs to making cheese and feeding staff.  My favorite thing by far was riding in the back of the truck, exercising the releasable cheetahs, just before feeding them.  What an awesome experience to see the girls in their natural habitat doing what nature designed them to do.

I have enjoyed every minute of my two weeks at CCF and feel like I could stay another two weeks.  I hope I have made an impact here at CCF because I know CCF has made an impact on me.  I intend to do my part to spread the message that humans can live in harmony with predatory wildlife, given the tools and resources and following the model that has been developed here at CCF.