Two Chicks and a Hoe
We’re gonna dig deep into some really amazing people and topics — cultivating ideas about nature, the environment and conservation — in your backyard and globally. We want to share stories with you where the only intention may be for you to say,“Wow, I didn’t know that!”…and now that you do, maybe you might think about your relationship with it differently, share the information with a friend or get involved.
Two Chicks and a Hoe
Against All Odds: Ensuring the Survival of Cheetahs
Get ready for an inspiring discussion with the renowned conservationist, Dr. Laurie Marker, as she delves into the complex challenges confronting cheetahs today. Cheetah Conservation is not solely about saving these majestic big cats; it's also an exploration of the human-driven factors shaping their existence. Dr. Marker will enlighten us on the profound impact of our actions, from climate change to poaching, on this magnificent species.
Imagine living outside protected areas, dodging threats at every corner. This is the harsh reality for cheetahs. Dr. Marker's extensive knowledge and passion for these creatures shine through as she shares insights on their perilous existence. It's not all gloom though. We also explore the commendable work done by the Cheetah Conservation Fund to ensure the continued existence of the cheetah. Together, we investigate the illegal wildlife trafficking and discuss the unforeseen complications of keeping wild animals as pets.
Lastly, we shift our focus to the future. Cheetah conservation isn't a sole effort. It's a collective responsibility, and we learn about the unique initiatives making a difference. We talk about livestock protection programs in Africa, the essential role of livestock guarding dogs, and how you can get involved with cheetah conservation. So grab your headphones, join us on this enlightening journey, and discover what it truly takes to preserve these awe-inspiring creatures for future generations.
Cheetah Conservation Fund
Meet Dr. Marker at Upcoming Events
Interview with: Dr. Laurie Marker
Things that make you say "Wow"!
For more episodes and additional information visit the Two Chicks and a Hoe website and our Facebook page.
Big thanks to our Producer, Casey Kennedy.
That sound was the voice of a cheetah. They call it chirping and, yeah, it does kind of sound like a bird. In the world of animal conservation, there are the names that everyone knows and the iconic species associated with them. You have Dr Jane Goodall, and we think of chimpanzees, gorillas, dianfossi. Well, today's guest is one of those conservationists, a trailblazer, a pioneer, a woman that has spent over three decades fighting for the survival of the cheetahs in Africa. Today we are talking with a conservation icon, dr Laurie Marker, founder and executive director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, based in Namibia. Known as the fastest land animal, the cheetah can go from 0 to 70 miles per hour in four seconds, cover 25 feet per stride, has an oversized heart and a small aerodynamic head, nostrils that flare to let in more oxygen, a flexible backbone, distinctive black tear lines that help reflect the sun and semi-retractable claws that act like cleats, like on a running shoe. They are also the oldest of the big cats They've been around for perhaps five million years.
Speaker 1:Hi everyone, it's Vanessa from Two Chicks and a Ho, the podcast that digs deeper into conversations with amazing people doing great things in our world. Dr Laurie Marker is a research scientist, a conservation biologist, recognized as one of the world's leading experts on the cheetah. Her holistic approach, balancing the needs of people, livestock and wildlife, is credited with stabilizing and increasing the world cheetah population in Namibia, which is considered the cheetah capital of the world. Dr Marker's work in Namibia and her role as the public face of cheetah conservation worldwide has brought her international recognition. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the Zoological Society of San Diego's Lifetime Achievement Award, and she was also named one of Time Magazine's heroes for the planet. I'm so excited to introduce to all of our listeners Dr Laurie Marker from the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Welcome, dr Marker.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Great to talk with you and appreciate being able to share more about the cheetah with your listeners.
Speaker 1:So thank you. Yes, thank you, and I know that you're calling in from Namibia and we were just talking about how cold it is there, which I think is kind of an unknown fact to a lot of people that it does get very cold there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is below freezing basically sometimes in the winter. We haven't had so for a few weeks at a time. It's actually snowing in South Africa right now, so that gives you an idea. We this is very, very, very unusual snow obviously in South Africa, but we get all the freezing cold up here and from that I think it is interesting. We are in a high desert, so Namibia is a very big country it's about two and a half times the size of California, with a lot of wildlife. We are a country that is abundant with wildlife and love our wildlife, and this is called the cheetah capital of the world, but with that we only have about 1500 cheetahs in this country out of a world population of only about 7,000. Most, all of them, are found in Africa.
Speaker 1:And actually so we're just going to get right into it. I had heard so that Namibia was the cheetah capital of the world, but when you say there's only 1500 there, you think I'm starting to think. To tell you the truth and still I really started doing more research on having this conversation with you I had no idea there was only 7,000 cheetahs left in the world.
Speaker 2:It's very scary. Just a number is one thing, but if you kind of look at how they're laid out there, since the turn of the last century there were about 100,000 cheetahs found throughout, probably about 45 countries. We've lost over 20 countries in the last 100 years to the cheetahs extinction. I started working with cheetahs in the early 1970s and from there to today, around that time there were about 35,000 cheetahs. Today there are less than 7,000. And it's not that we haven't been working our tails off. We've been able to stabilize Namibia, but what's happened in many of the countries? We've got 20 of the remaining countries where cheetahs are found. Well, they're found in. Let me put it this way, there are 31 populations in 23 countries and of those 31 populations, 20 of them are under 100 individuals. So they're fragmented and it's very, very scary. In the last of the ancient cheetahs in Iran, there are only about a dozen, which is very bad.
Speaker 1:So that's not a viable population, is it?
Speaker 2:No, it's not, and I think we're watching that throughout many of these remaining cheetah landscapes and the 20 countries where I say they're under 100, they need augmenting. There are huge problems for the cheetah, and one why are they endangered? To begin with, yes, let's do those facts.
Speaker 2:As you and I know, what's going on in the world and most all of our species in the world today are actually very threatened by loss of habitat. And from that, with the cheetah, it doesn't live in protected areas. Most of them are found outside of protected areas, because the protected areas have larger predators lions and hyenas and leopards that can steal their food, kill their young. So the cheetah gets pushed out and is on lands where they're living, with primarily livestock farmers throughout their range.
Speaker 2:So that's the biggest problem, isn't it Human wildlife conflict? We as people perceive a threat to a predator and if we don't manage our livestock properly, then we have losses of our livestock to predators. But we have spent our time trying to figure out why and how people are living on the land with those animals and how to actually get them to understand better that they play a very key role in the livestock losses that they have. And we do that through training programs that we call Future Farmers of Africa and at the same time, study how the cheetah is living through our ecology programs with collars on the cats, and we've got very extensive databases and movement patterns and that helps us to work with the farmers and the people so that our mission is really trying to live in harmony with nature and you can even live in harmony with a predator like the cheetah.
Speaker 1:So let me explain a little bit. Please have you explain a little bit further. So we have the human wildlife conflict, but then that kind of plays into the whole loss of prey as well for the cheetah. So those two work together correct to cause this larger problem. So tell me what is the prey of the cheetah and what's happening to it.
Speaker 2:Their prey is primarily a small to medium-sized antelope, which you know if I'm talking mostly to Americans would be about a deer size, I would say and they end down smaller so they can get birds, they can get hair. But with that, this size antelope also is living on the land where the livestock is, and so if you've got this is where the overgrazing can happen. You end up with no grazing land then for wildlife, and that's where conflict comes together. But so the loss of habitat and the loss of prey are very tied in together.
Speaker 1:Okay, so and let me say then too, my understanding is is if we lose, if a farmer there loses one goat or one cow, that's devastating. That's not like going okay, you know we have hundreds more to back us up. That can be very devastating to a farmer.
Speaker 2:Yes, many of them are living in rural areas, and one of the problems in Africa is that these rural areas you've got pastoralists and there is not a lot of management. So it's actually the you know. The problem with the shared lands is that everybody wants more livestock, and as you have more livestock you have to have more land. But there's more people and so there's less land, and so the animals do overgraze the land, and once they've overgrazed the land, then the land is actually not that good for even more animals, so it gets degraded and then from that it decreases the amount of grazing for not only the livestock but also the wildlife. So those are some of the issues that we deal with, and, for instance, we've developed a habitat restoration program here in Namibia where we're trying to help restore habitat. So grasslands will come back, and if we've got more grasslands we can have more wildlife, and then, of course, we could have more cheetahs too.
Speaker 1:Got it, so it's in full circle, right?
Speaker 2:And that's what the cheetah conservation is. So we have a lot of different programs, but we've, in order to find out what we needed to do, we did a lot of social surveys, so going door to door, working together with the farmers, finding out what their problems were, what their needs were, engaging the farmers. And now I set up the Cheetah Conservation Fund in 1990 here in Namibia and from that we have been able to really work closely with the farming communities to develop programs and work with them. So they've trusted us quite a bit. And those programs are not only around basic research on the ecology of the cheetah and how it's moving through radio telemetry, but the basic biology and genetic makeup of the population. And so we do have a veterinary clinic here at our center as well as a genetics lab. And then we have other programs. We are a model farm where we actually farm livestock so that the communities can see how we're doing it in such a way that we're not losing livestock, so that they can learn from that being a model farm.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that idea. That's a fantastic way of working with the people.
Speaker 2:It works because you know, as you come in as a predator biologist, it's like what are you? You love your cheetahs. You know we love our livestock Right, we're one as a livestock farmer, and so I love my livestock and the predators, and by studying them I've been able to teach the farming communities that they too, through good management, can actually live in harmony with predators, not just cheetahs, even leopards. We've got hyenas around jackals, so it's a whole array of the predators which are extremely important for the health of our ecosystems, which we as people also don't understand that all of these species are there for a purpose.
Speaker 1:Right, right, so you did touch on it briefly. You mentioned the genetic research that you've done and I think the people that I have talked to about cheetahs, everybody kind of has that idea that cheetahs are clones and I say that loosely, I'm not a scientist Right, I think that they're so similar genetically that one thing could potentially wipe them out. Is that true?
Speaker 2:Okay, I was wondering if that was kind of accurate. We would call them genetically monomorphic, being that they're very much the same and that actually goes from that. They escaped the actually a no-transcript a global extinction, back about 10 to 12,000 years ago when the Pleistocene extinction occurred. The cheetah before that was found throughout basically the whole world. It had worldwide distribution in the arid lands, obviously, in Savannah, in the Americas too. Right, yeah, okay, yep, okay.
Speaker 2:And actually cheetahs originated from the Americas and then crossed over land bridges, went over into, you know, down into Russia, down into Asia, down into India, into Europe, even so, they were pretty much everywhere then into Africa. But around 12,000 years ago with the Pleistocene extinction, the cheetah escaped the extinction but was only found in remnant population, which we believe is probably over in Africa, where the population then repopulated. But it repopulated Africa and Asia and not again in the Americas. Okay, so with that, then during the course, so they reestablished, but with that it left them the same. So going through a bottleneck, large population going down to only a few, and then the population coming back, they're all genetically the same.
Speaker 1:Got it, got it, and so with that problem.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, because if they see viruses and diseases and cheetahs are very susceptible to different or all of the different, actually feline and canine diseases Okay, and we see that if one cat gets it, you end up with an outbreak and it can be very devastating, one of which we have been studying for a long time, which is the coronavirus for cheetahs.
Speaker 2:It manifests into what's called feline infectious peritonitis and there you can have a very high mortality, up to 60 plus percent of the animals, because they're all the same, all the animals are the same and when they see this virus they act the same and it's mutated to the point where it can actually kill off the cheetahs in pretty high numbers. So that obviously, when you're looking at a small population like 7,000 and only a hundred here or a hundred there, then how they respond to viruses, and then all the other complications that go along with aspects around climate change and habitat loss and prey loss, that the numbers are very, very small and that leaves them even more vulnerable as a species, vulnerable to the ecological and environmental changes that are occurring on Earth around them. So we as an organization are trying to save the species and with that, have had to look at a variety of different programs to try to combat, mitigate and help save the cheetah.
Speaker 1:So I think you're I like it, I'm calling it your motto, which is the cheetah conservation fund is changing the world to save the cheetah, not the opposite direction, which I love, and I think that's the the route of conservation for cheetahs and, of course, many of or other very vulnerable and iconic species. So, yes, huh, interesting. I've been writing all these things down, trying to figure out. There's so many things that the cheetahs up against and of course, you guys are up against as well, and you touched on it briefly in terms of loss of habitat, but climate change and how that's affecting it. And you are actually seeing the real-time effect of climate change. I mean, we're seeing it here in the United States. I'm sure I know it's global, but I mean just today you know there's tremendous flooding on the East Coast, that kind of a thing, all of this. You know climate change, and there's still people that saying it doesn't really exist. But I think that you're seeing it too from the perspective of the survival of the animals in Namibia. Is that correct In?
Speaker 2:the wild? Yes, right, and we were. We worked throughout the cheetahs range. So not only are we based down here in Namibia, we have another base up in Somali land, which is in the corner of Africa, and both of the two countries are some of the are are some of the most arid places on earth and where the cheetah lives in these 31 populations in 20 countries, are some of the most arid landscapes. And you say they're pushed.
Speaker 1:They're pushed more towards the, even the drier landscapes, because of the humans, because of humans. Yes, right, okay got it.
Speaker 2:Right, okay, and so yeah, that vulnerability is something that we also are taking into account and trying to help those communities who, many of them, are pastoralists and very, very poor rural farmers. So, for instance, up in Somali land, it is also a problem around human wildlife conflict. But what they have done with that is that they've decided to go out and steal young cubs, poaching them from the wild and then selling them into the illegal wildlife pet trade, which maybe makes sense from a Somali land or a rural perspective, if you're in the Horn of Africa. But most of the animals don't make it into the pet trade. Obviously, wild animals are not supposed to be pets.
Speaker 2:But cheetahs are an animal that have been revered by humans for thousands of years. They're the smallest of the big cats. Of course, they're the fastest-land animal, but because they're fast, everything that was fast on them went away, are powerful and dangerous. So they don't have big, powerful claws like lions, leopards. They've got dog-like claws which dig into the ground and help them run fast up to 70 miles an hour. They don't have very big teeth because the teeth, where the roots go from those canine teeth, go up into their nasal cavities. So when you're going 70 miles an hour. You have to be able to breathe.
Speaker 2:So what's happened is they've evolved and they've got very, very small canine teeth. So there's nothing really aggressive on them and you can chase them away from their prey. It's called flight versus fight. That's why they have been caught and then sold into the pet trade, because they purr and they are nice, they can eat you. It's like a big kitty, right, except they don't last long. For every one cheetah that might make it into the pet trade, about four or five of them die, and if they do end up in the pet trade, they only have a lifespan of about a year or two. So what we've had to do is stop the trade by working in Smolliland, and we have now in Smolliland over 90 confiscated cheetahs at our center that we've had to develop there.
Speaker 1:Let me ask. So, when you say that the understanding, of course, that whether it's the ivory industry, whatever you want to call it, the ivory or animal parts and wildlife trafficking a lot of it, of course is associated with people that they're trying to just support their families and stuff, so what are you doing with the people in Smolliland in terms of the pet trade? How does that balance out?
Speaker 2:Well, that's good what we've done after 30 years in Namibia. By developing all the programs we have here, we've been able to adapt those programs to many of the different cheetah range countries that have different problems. Most of the problems are human wildlife conflict and livestock management. And so our Future Farmer of Africa program we've adapted and developed it to work with farmers up in Smolliland. There they've got mostly goat, sheep and camels that they are raising and they're very, very poor. It's the third poorest country in the world and they've never had any training. And so we've now launched this program, which was developed here in Namibia, with the rural communities telling us what they needed to know so that they could be partners with us in conservation.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 2:And so that's pretty exciting. And then, on another level, we work here in Namibia. We again, we are a country that loves our wildlife and we have we still have a lot of wildlife and the communities are actually part of this and through what are called conservancies, and these are community-based natural resource management programs where the communities become engaged and right now, most of them, as rural communities, only have their livestock. And as you develop a conservancy and you have wildlife, you can start looking at a variety of other livelihoods around that. Some of the livelihoods in Africa which are very profitable are that around ecotourism and having areas that are there in a very healthy wildlife area where you've got predators and the communities can actually benefit from the wildlife as well. So we're trying to also teach other livelihood aspects, like if you have your herd of goats or camels, that potentially you could have a value added by maybe making something with it, and if you have a goat or your camel, then you really don't have anything more because that was it, that was it, yeah, so you can milk your camel or your goat, you can make cheeses, soaps.
Speaker 2:One of the things we do in Namibia is we've got our livestock guarding dog program. Tell me about the dogs. They're great Dogs, saving cats right. They're the best. We have a Turkish breed of dog that we use. It's called a Kangledog or the Anatolian shepherd. Tell me the front Kangledog. Kangledog it means the shepherd's dog and it is the breed of turkey.
Speaker 2:And what we've done is we have started using the dogs now gosh 27 years ago, and we breed them and we place them with the farmers with their livestock. They grow up with the livestock from a tiny puppy and then they, by doing that, they protect the livestock and they grow to a fairly good sized dog and they bark loudly, they mark territory and with that the predators hear that there's something big there and predators don't want to come in and get themselves hurt. I think that's something that most people don't understand. They hear of a predator a bear, a mountain lion, a cheetah, a leopard, a lion and everybody thinks, oh, they're going to come in and eat my livestock. They come in and eat our livestock because oftentimes our livestock is not protected well and it's opportunistic and predators are opportunistic. What they want to do is to find an easy meal that they can eat and not get hurt.
Speaker 2:And if you've got a big dog there barking loudly and smelling, because they're marking their territory, the predators stay away. So it is an easy solution. However, you have to train the farmers. The dogs are instinctual. They've been doing this for five to 6,000 years and we breed the dogs and then place them with the farmers and we put out over 750 dogs in 27 years and we study it and we get between 80% to 100% reduction of livestock loss when the farmer has the dog with his livestock, and not just cheetahs, but to all predators, because we like all predators, because predators, again, are extremely important to maintain the health of the ecosystem.
Speaker 2:So that the dogs are the catalyst for that yes, yeah, and they protect so that the farmers don't kill the predators.
Speaker 1:And the farmers were open to this whole concept of bringing dogs in. I mean, there's a problem with going on in the bottle farm Right, but in Namibia they had and we're.
Speaker 2:In many places in Africa they've used dogs. Quite often there's small dogs. Oftentimes they're a hunting dog, which you don't want, and you do not want a herding dog like the dogs that herd sheep. That makes sense. A guarding dog is big and it barks loudly and it bonds with your flock. It doesn't chase them, it sticks with them and so this breed of dog there's been about 23 breeds around Europe primarily that have been used for thousands of years that we humans have forgotten about.
Speaker 1:They're smart, they're great and it makes sense and the farmers have embraced that.
Speaker 2:Then they have. When I first started, obviously, we did a lot of research on their dogs and found out that most of the dogs, if you had a dog, it was a small dog and if it saw a predator it would start chasing the flock and started running. As soon as the flock starts running to get away, the predator goes into its behavior. That's where the fun starts. The flock run, chase, kill, yay, wow. But if you have a guarding dog, they don't chase, they don't get scared, they stay on their ground and bark and say I'm really big, you're looking at my flock and, trust me, I'm gonna come after you if you come near my flock. I'm sure that's what they say.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:So let me ask you. Then I read somewhere, because I have a friend that lives in the Sierra, is up by the one of the gates of Yosemite and she has goats, and this was Valerie, the former director of the zoo. Oh great, yes, yeah. And she has a donkey that has the goats, and she's the right, and they've had some mountain lion issues and the goat, like the dog, really stands its ground and says no, no, these are my goats, so I'm using donkeys as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we use donkeys with cattle primarily.
Speaker 2:Oh, because the dogs don't do as well with the cattle the calves because the cattle are usually out on range, okay, and so it's harder to feed your dog, and so if you can raise your donkey up with the calves, the donkey becomes the protector and then the donkey eats the same grass and drinks water and can cruise around with the cattle.
Speaker 2:Small stock goats and sheep usually come in at night throughout most places, and that's why the dog works better, because then you have a place where you can feed the dog. Okay. But in Australia they use these dogs out in very large areas and they've figured out how to make dog feeders. So you go out once a week and put your food in the dog feeder that is just for dogs, and the sheep don't get them, and the dogs do well there. So I mean, the breed of dog is Wow. Guarding dogs are doing well in many areas and we've been kind of the people who have done the research on it from ground zero, so it's been great too and I think it makes a lot of sense. They're lovely dogs. They're not a pet, but they obviously, if you're not losing your livestock, it is very helpful.
Speaker 1:Yes, Very good. I love that program. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:And it's now. The dogs now have spread into many countries in Africa. We've got a program going in South Africa and Botswana. We're looking at it in Somaliland, but the culture is different there and they don't really think dogs are of value. However, there are some people that have dogs with their flocks and we're now, through our education, teaching them that dogs could actually help them. So it's very interesting what you can do, even to see cultures change.
Speaker 1:So Nice, very nice, so you kind of mentioned it too. I know you have a very extensive volunteer program we do and that means you can actually go there and work correct. But also a lot of global offices where people can and help put on events, fund raise, create awareness, do all those types of things for Cheetah Conservation Fund.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and so, volunteering, we take interns, and so we get a lot of university students. We get a lot of students from UC Davis there because of the vet aspect, so it's great We've got several students here. Now this is the summertime for all of you in our winter here in Namibia, and our students range from veterinary to genetics, to ecology, even to that of animal science and a food science, because we also have a creamery here and a dairy farm that we teach people again that value added side. So we interns we welcome from and they come from around the world. We also have lots of Namibians that we teach and they stay on here. We've got a lot that have gotten masters and PhDs, which we're very proud of veterinary degrees as well.
Speaker 1:So Nice and you also.
Speaker 2:so let's say, people is that one of the dogs that is, one of the dogs was barking. I love it. I don't know what he's barking at, but shoot, I love it. He's got his nose out of joint tonight.
Speaker 1:My dog is behind me sleeping on the bed there. No great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Perky come. What are you barking at, Perk?
Speaker 1:I see him.
Speaker 2:Perk come here, come up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, hurry come, cookie, cookie, cookie, cookie, cookie cookie.
Speaker 2:The universal language, yeah oh well, he's not gonna come. I love it. That's the one thing is does your livestock guarding dog come when it's called? And the answer is no, they. This breed of dog in particular has an independent mind and that's why we picked it, and they live in vast open areas and they decide well, you're calling me, like I just called him. He says why should I come? Yeah, I'm busy because there's something at the door down there, and so they look at you like you don't know what I'm doing, and that is actually why they're really a famous breed. They're very cat-like, aren't they? Yeah, very independent, thank you, yes, I love it.
Speaker 1:So, as a one thing is a volunteer, but you can actually come, or I can, we anybody Listening can come visit too and see the amazing work that you guys are doing.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. We don't just take interns, we take volunteers Of all walks of life and what you can do. Then if you come and volunteer you learn what we do. Not only do you help take care of cheetahs, but you can go out of school program and maybe own a community to help. We've got a one health program where we vaccinate you know, rural livestock dogs and we've got all the things. We've got our livestock guarding dogs that you can take care of. So we're a very active place. We're open also as a safari stop I guess. We've got a lovely guest house and small little lodge where people who are traveling and on safari come and stay overnight with us and learn a lot about what the programs that we're doing. We say, come and watch conservation in action. So there's some people who like to go on safari and there's other people who like to volunteer. And then of course we would love the students that want to learn and study and do better with what they're going to do and try to help wildlife on a global scale.
Speaker 1:So everybody's welcome there in some capacity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we like people. Yeah, so, as you said, we do have programs there, even in the United States. And right, you know you are from San Jose and I actually went to school in San Jose and my mother lives in Santa Cruz, so I always feel like I'm a part of you and that's why I love to talk to you, and the people that are there listening, I hope, are maybe from the area and maybe I have some of you, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:So that is great. I'm going to talk to Marcus. Somebody in the Bay Area because I know you have a large following here as well Wants to volunteer for for you, for the Cheetah Conservation Fund. How do they go about that? I mean, of course, go to the website and stuff, but is there a local or a California office, so to speak?
Speaker 2:We have. We are a United States 501 C3 nonprofit organization, as well as one in maybe in the Smolliland in Europe and UK and Canada and Australia, but United States is our main organization that supports us. Our main office is in near Washington DC, but we have chapters through the country. So we've got a very big chapter in Northern California because that's my, my, where I'm from home. Yes, and we welcome people to learn about what we do because we do, you know, love it. If people want to volunteer, go and help us spread the word and awareness there in your community as well. So that's another reason why having local groups to get involved, to also volunteer with us, is very, very important. We would love to have more help from that area.
Speaker 1:All right. So anybody that's listening, that's interested, of course, can go to the Cheetah Conservation Fund website, get all that information. You can get information on all the amazing work that Dr Marker and her crew are doing. Of course, check out if you're, if you've got that education that you want to go do something on that level of volunteerism, but also, too, if you want to go visit a very unique place and have a very different experience. I see your puppy now. Yeah, this is not.
Speaker 2:This is the mother, so she's an old dog, but they're all great. But we welcome people to learn about us and to go to our website. Our website is great. We also have a really good YouTube channel.
Speaker 2:Yes, I've saw several videos, it's very good, yeah, and we we love to have people engage with what's going on. Not everybody might want to come over here and do what we're doing to try to save the species, but everyone can do something if they care to get involved, and we try hard to get all the people who are our sponsors and donors and involved. Another thing, too, is that we also offer sponsorships. You can actually sponsor a resident cheetah and orphan cat that's never going to be able to go back out in the wild, and with that you can go to our website again, cheetahorg, and look at that sponsorship. You can also sponsor a cheetah that is living here or a livestock guarding dog, and those help us too. Again, we also have to raise the funds in order to keep our work going, and our work is is very, very big, because we're trying to save the cheetah throughout its range.
Speaker 1:Right, right. So that's. That's a really good point, dr Marker, is that this you know, the governments and what have you are not funding all these programs. A lot of these programs are funded with private donations and whether it's on the ground there or in the United States or Australia, europe, wherever it is, people are doing lots of fundraising and creating awareness for the cheetahs and their preservation, and anybody can participate in that respect.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we really welcome that very, very much. So would love to get to know some of the people that are listening in, and I hope that you will go to our website and learn more about what we're doing to try to save the cheetah. And I do come back to America a couple times a year and would even love to see people when I'm there to try to share more information.
Speaker 1:I think you're going to be in the Bay Area in October of this year.
Speaker 2:I will be yeah and hope to see you. You'll see me. I look forward to that.
Speaker 1:One last kind of I don't know if it's a question or just a thought Hope. There's so much going on in the world and you've seen so much Hope. Tell me your thoughts, I have to hope.
Speaker 2:As you said, our motto is change the world, change the world and change the world. We're not just talking about this, we're talking about the Cheetah Right and what we've tried to do is identify the problems and try to make a difference through the programs for the people that we work with. Most of the people are very, very poor and with that, helping them with livelihood development, helping them understand the value of wildlife and the importance of a healthy ecosystem is extremely important. Right not only the problem, but we are the solution as people and we can make a difference. And I ask everybody to think about the difference that they can make every day. And, as I said, you might not wanna come over to Africa and do what we're doing, but, on the other hand, think about what we're doing and help us.
Speaker 1:And it's also to your own backyard, right, I was gonna say. It's about being thinking about what you are surrounded by as well here, and what you can do, whether that's planting for pollinators or recycling properly or those types of things. Yes, every little bit helps, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:It does absolutely, and having a global network of friends means a great deal and to have people be aware that the cheetah is the fastest land animal, the most unique of all of the 40 species of cats, but is losing that race, and if it loses the race, we are all losing that race. And so I just assume, keep the fastest land animal on the land and have it be a part of the work that is so important. And some of what we also do is rehabilitate a lot of animals and also have been rewilding animals into extinct countries.
Speaker 1:Ooh, I wanted to touch base on that so much. I'm so fascinated with the idea of back into India.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, we've got them back in India Love it we and it's gonna be a long, long process because when an animal goes extinct, bringing it back isn't very, very, very, very hard. So the cheetah went extinct in India about in the early 1950s, right, and we've been working with the government now for over 20 years. And they came up. We worked with them on finding places where they could go to that had enough wildlife, and help them with a whole master plan along with several other organizations. And in September of last year Namibia gifted India the first eight cheetahs to go back into India after a 75 year extinction.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And that's pretty exciting. Wow, and a couple years later South Africa brought another 12. And so on the ground now we've had a couple losses, we've had a couple of births, but out of that we have animals on the ground, wild and free in India, and there are more cats that will be coming, because we're bringing more animals in South Africa and Namibia, small numbers at a time, so that they can start repopulating the area. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, thank you for sharing that and, yes, I understand that the take a long time for that to happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so that's what we always say. But it's very hard to bring them back. Yeah, people love to hear about reintroduction programs and rewilding, but that's a lot harder than it is to keep the animals living where they are, and so our work is to try to keep living, having cheetahs live free and in the wild, by working together with communities and developing programs so that that will work for the future.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you so much, dr Marker. Thank you for sharing all your wealth of information. You really are a beacon of hope, not only for the cheetah people and the cheetahs, but for the world. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Appreciate you too and look forward to seeing you soon. So thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Many thanks again to Dr Laurie Marker for sharing the work that the Cheetah Conservation Fund is accomplishing. I watched a David Attenborough show while I was working on this podcast the Year Earth Changed. It was filmed during the pandemic and showed how wildlife started to bounce back while we were in lockdown. It showed cheetahs, leopards, penguins, even humpback whales, and how they were affected by the lack of people. It was quite interesting, the lesson being that nature can start to flourish again and we can help with even the smallest of changes to our behaviors and interactions with the natural world.
Speaker 1:So makes me think Can the world's fastest mammal outrun its fate? Well, based upon the chat with Dr Marker and so many innovative solutions that are happening worldwide, yes, yes, there is reason for hope. For more information about cheetahs and all the groundbreaking work being done by the Cheetah Conservation Fund, visit their website, cheetahorg. You can see the volunteer opportunities across the globe and in Namibia, how you can help and even check out their ecotourism vacation at the Cheetah Sanctuary. Thanks again, you guys. Thanks for taking a listen. You take care of each other. Talk to you soon, thank you.