Help Lena Preserve The King Cheetah Legacy

Not so long ago, a 'star' high in the firmament of wildlife adventure dimmed - a shock passing not result of the many diverse dangers Paul Bottriell faced-off in the bush since a boy of eight, but First World medical negligence hard to compute happening in the 21st. century. This has now been ruled on official record by the authoritative UK Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman, a chilling unambiguous "avoidable death" top level of its severity of injustice scale and legal action is viable. Gifted such a tool on official record to run with doesn't make the path to Justice any less stony.

Admired wildlife field researcher and artist - and inventor of first electronic book the Microbook, intended for electricity-deprived youngsters in Africa, but which fell prey to the commercial greed of big-brother 'gadget' technology - Paul was enthralled by big cats since his boyhood in Rhodesia, notably the magnificent King Cheetah . Paul and his Australian wife of 47 years Léna Godsall Bottriell worked passionately together to raise awareness of this rare big cat - long dismissed as myth, until they firmly confirmed its existence in the wild in an 18-month field expedition, involving a pioneering hot-air balloon search.  

2020 and COVID brought closure of Book Fairs and Art Exhibitions and devastating loss of income from sales of books, artwork that hitherto ably funded Paul and Léna's work together - a lack of funds that persists with Paul's death.

A caring contributor passionate about wildlife our world needs more of, he'll now never see culmination of the biggest study yet to investigate cheetah's evolutionary development in relation to geography he was at the heart of, and which Léna is determined to continue, nor validation of King Cheetah's stunning markings as probably cheetah's original coat pattern before retreat, with the advance of humankind, of forested, wooded environments the King's heavier markings ably suit.

In the words of his nephew Kit: " Paul has gone but his legacy with Léna goes on forever and forever. Hambe Kahle....go well from us down here in KwaZulu". 

Help Léna to continue to honour this star legacy with nature and its precious tapestry of flora and fauna, not least the spirit of travel adventure they embodied together.