Conservation group says cheetahs are back after 30 years of war in devastated southern Angola

OTJIWARONGO, Namibia (AP) — Scientists saw cheetahs in southern Angola for the first time in three decades since the now-ended civil war devastated the animal's habitat, a conservation group said Wednesday.

After a three day survey in the arid Iona district of Angola bordering Namibia, cheetah specialist Laurie Marker reported the sighting of the fast, spotted, leopard-like wild feline.

Male cheetahs leave their droppings on trees as territorial markings, Marker reported to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, an international research organization based in this northern Namibian town.

"We found nine different marking trees," he said. In one, he saw cheetah dung. Then "two male cheetahs ran out. It was very exciting — there are cheetahs in Angola," he said.

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Congratulations to Dr. Laurie Marker!

Tuesday, March 09, 2010
One more Award for CCF: the 2010 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement

2010 Tyler Laureates
Laurie Marker and Stuart L. Pimm
Winners of 2010 Tyler Environmental Prize Announced

Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund and Stuart Pimm of Duke University recognized for scientific and management contributions to the understanding and restoration of ecosystems.

Two conservationists whose careers have centered on understanding ecosystem functions as the essential foundation for ecosystem restoration will share the 2010 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.

The award, consisting of a $200,000 cash prize and gold medals, will go to Dr. Laurie Marker, the co-founder and executive director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, and Professor Stuart Pimm, the Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

On Friday, April 23, at 7 p.m., the Tyler Prize Executive Committee and the international environmental community will honor the recipients at a banquet and ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.

The Tyler Prize Executive Committee recognized Marker and Pimm “for their scientific contributions, their understanding of ecosystem functions, and for their applications of this knowledge to the management and restoration of ecosystems to the benefit of their inhabitants.”

Laurie Marker has been involved in the study of wild cheetahs for more than 30 years and established an organization in Namibia to study them and protect them. The organization approaches wildlife conservation by clearly addressing the needs of human inhabitants and creating economic opportunities for them. The Tyler Prize award is made in recognition of her contributions to developing an ecosystem-based approach to sustainable management of a landscape that incorporates “the knowledge and economic interests of the local population” to support its long-term goal of protecting the endangered cheetah.

Marker has been involved in the study and captive breeding of cheetahs since the mid-1970s and established the Cheetah Conservation Fund in 1990. The group addresses problems, real and perceived, of cheetah predation on livestock as well as the very real degradation of grazing land and wildlife habitat by an invasive plant. Marker has initiated projects that raise guard dogs for livestock herds to reduce cheetah predation and that create an economic enterprise to clear invasive thorny bushes and process them into fuel. The projects are building a constituency among rural Namibians for cheetah conservation and, at the same time, are restoring and protecting farmland, livestock pastures and wildlife habitat.

Marker’s nomination for the Tyler Prize was initiated by a former U.S. Ambassador to Namibia, Jeffrey Bader. In his letter of nomination, Bader described Marker as “literally and figuratively a force of nature,” and he described the work of the Cheetah Conservation Fund as “the most successful project I have ever seen to protect the world's biodiversity.”

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Two roommates are doing their part to help save a species

By Glen Beeby KPIC News Video WINSTON, Ore. -- Wildlife Safari in Winston, has rare animals from across the globe, like rhino's, lions and even an Anatolian Shepherd. The rare thing about this pooch is not her breed, but her roommate who just happens to be the fastest predator on earth.
"It's a very popular question of why we have a dog and a cheetah out there, and it's a common practice that a lot of institutions across the United States are doing right now in an effort to tell this very conservation story," said Dan Brands, Curator at the Safari.

As a single birth cheetah cub, Sanurra was abandoned by her mother, which opened the door for these two, to be brought together.

Cheetah supervisor, Sarah Roy, says, "Rather than let Sanurra grow up alone we were able to bring in a dog as a sibling, basically like her sister, and they have been together ever since."

This odd pairing was no accident, as an Anatolian Shepard is very protective, and that natural instinct could be the key to saving the wild cheetah population.

"Anatolians will be like that no matter what they are raised with whether it's goats or whether it's cattle..so the farmers get these dogs as puppies, and a big barking dog is plenty to keep a cheetah away from their livestock, and in turn farmers are shooting less cheetahs, because right now they are a shoot-on-site animal," said Roy.

While these roommates may be considered the odd couple of the safari, caretakers says it's like nothing they've ever seen.

"When we take the dog for her daily walk, the cheetah sits on her house and waits for the dog to some back, and if we take Sanurra down to the village for the day, Ellie cries and whines for her cheetah to come back, so they do miss each other."

That type of bond could change the road ahead for cheetahs in Africa.

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Cheetahs on Discovery Channel

A cheetah running at full speed in East Africa, as seen on "Life." "Life," narrated by Oprah Winfrey, is an 11-part television event premiering Sunday, 3/1 at 8pm on Discovery Channel.

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Letter from the Cheetah Conservation Fund

I just wanted to pass this letter along. I am a big fan of Dr. Marker and her foundation!

We did it!


Thanks to our loyal supporters, we reached our $150,000 goal! Combined with the matching funds from other generous donors, we made our $300,000 Challenge in six weeks. What a great feeling to know that we can count on our friends, even during hard times.

Because of your generosity, we go into 2010 with our major programs—our farmer and youth education, the livestock guarding dogs, and our ongoing biological and reproductive research—funded...for the next few months. As you know, CCF is a small organization, and you are its heart and soul. And, until cheetahs are off the endangered species list, our work will never be completed. It is only due to the fierce determination of our board, staff, and donors that we have achieved this level of success.

2010 will be especially exciting for CCF, as this is our 20th anniversary! Twenty years ago, I sold everything I had and moved to the newly independent Namibia, which had and still has the largest remaining population of cheetah. I wanted to save the wild cheetah, but I had no idea my dream would turn into the organization CCF is today!

To celebrate this milestone year, I and the CCF staff will be sending out regular emails highlighting CCF’s various programs and achievements. I hope you enjoy them and that they give you greater insight into the challenges that we still face.

Sending you cheetah purrs for a wonderful 2010!

With my deepest gratitude and profound thanks,
Dr. Laurie Marker
Founder and Executive Director

On the Chase with cheetahs

Life's wildlife photographer John Dominis pictures of this beautiful animal.

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1015722/in-gallery/35612