RESCUING CHEETAHS
Cheetahs are in danger of becoming extinct. Conservationists are
working to save the wild cats.
January 18, 2013
By Suzanne Zimbler
As fast as a cheetah. Whether it's describing a car, a computer or the best
runner in the race, the comparison is made all the time. It's for good
reason, too. The cheetah is the speediest runner on Earth.
Quick as the cheetah may be, though, it is far from invincible. The paleyellow cat with black spots was once a common sight throughout Africa
and much of Asia. Just over 100 years ago, there were about 100,000
cheetahs in the world.
But in the 20th century, that number dropped. Poachers captured
cheetahs to sell as pets. Hunters shot them for sport. And people built
cities and towns where the cats' habitat used to be. Today, there are only
about 10,000 cheetahs left (see Map It Out!).
Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), has
spent nearly 40 years studying the wild cat and coming up with ways to
help it. She says it is still possible to save the cheetah. "I do believe we
can turn back time," she told TFK. "We now have the tools, and we know
what to do."
A Brighter Future for the Cats
In 1977, Marker moved to Namibia, a country in southern Africa where a
once-thriving cheetah population was quickly shrinking. Farmers were
killing the wild cats. "It's not that the people wanted to kill cheetahs," says
Marker. They were trying to protect their farm animals.
Marker had an idea. She knew that for thousands of years, farmers in
Turkey had used special dogs, called Anatolian shepherds, to protect their
livestock. These guard dogs scare away predators without hurting them.
"They bark loudly," says Marker. "They stand their ground."
About 20 years ago, Marker and her team began placing the dogs on
Namibian farms. Since then, she says, "we've stopped the killing and
doubled the country's cheetah population."
Another major challenge facing cheetahs is habitat destruction. When
farmers keep too much livestock in the same place for too long,
overgrazing occurs. Without grass to eat, many wild animals—including
those that the cheetah preys on—cannot survive. And the cheetah too is
left without a meal.
In Namibia, CCF is teaching farmers how to take care of their livestock
without harming the land. The organization has worked with more than
3,000 farmers. "Our farmers are very interested," says Marker. "They want
that information."
The goal, Marker says, is for people, livestock and wild cheetahs to live in
harmony. "That's my vision," she says, "and it's doable."
WORDS TO KNOW:
invincible : too strong to be defeated
overgrazing : to allow animals to feed to the point of damaging plant life