Dr. Laurie Marker's Field Notes
December 2005

Dear Cheetah Friends,

It is hard to believe that another year is almost coming to an end. I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your continued interest in CCF's work, and particularly for your support. None of our programs or activities would be possible without you, and as a result, the cheetah would not have a chance.

Since I last wrote to you about my US Fall Tour, only a month ago, many more things have happened that I would like to share with you. We have been very busy including workshops, and visits to our Namibian Centre from some of our research collaborators, rescuing cheetahs and even giving our Audi Car to its new owner!

Some of the biggest news is the Winner of the Drive to Survive Audi Sweepstakes! In October, CCF joined with Audi of America in sponsoring the Drive To Survive Tour and Sweepstakes to raise awareness and funds to save cheetahs in the wild. Audi donated an Audi TT Coupe to CCF and the renowned New York artist and cheetah supporter, Lynn Chase, created a spectacular "cheetah" makeover for the car. After a very successful Tour across the United States, the lucky winner of this one-of-a-kind car is San Francisco Bay area CCF supporter Gregor Freund . But this is not the end of the story: on a very lucky note, Gregor wishes to donate the car back to CCF for an additional opportunity to raise more funds for CCF!! A big thanks to Gregor!! And, this would not have been possible if it were not for the dedication of CCF's Trustee Susan Babson and her Drive to Survive team for their tireless efforts in making the Tour a success, a big thanks to you! Also, a huge thanks to everyone who purchased sweepstakes tickets. Every ticket purchased contributes to CCF's efforts in saving the cheetah from extinction.

For me, every day is a cheetah day, but this US Thanksgiving Day was one to remember. CCF's Patricia Tricorache and I had been working for several days prior to coordinate the rescue of two orphaned cheetahs in Gode, Ethiopia. The cubs, estimated at approximately 5 months of age, were illegally purchased at a local market for 50 birr (or $6) by a local hotel owner. We have learned that there is illegal catching of young animals in southern Ethiopia (especially carnivores), which we have found are often sold to buyers in the Saudi Peninsula.

These cubs were tied to the ground by an 8-inch rope, and one of the cubs had a severely infected eye. They were reported to CCF by concerned representatives of the US military Civil Affairs unit based in Gode, who were offered the cubs for $1,000. Fearing that offering any amount of money for the cubs would encourage more poaching and further decimate the cheetah population, and realizing that this was illegal, the US military personnel contacted CCF for assistance.

Through our extensive CCF network, we were able to coordinate a group of Ethiopian officials and concerned individuals helped by representatives of the US Embassy in Addis, the US military unit, and the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program to confiscate the cubs and fly them to Addis for veterinary attention and proper care and housing. Both cubs were malnourished, and the male's severely infected eye will be reassessed as soon as he gains some weight and recovers from the stresses.

We cannot thank enough all the people who were involved in helping these cubs, especially the US soldiers and their families who took the time to find CCF on the Internet and report the cubs to us. CCF is also very grateful to all the US and Ethiopian officials, and to the members of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program, for having responded so efficiently and professionally to give those cubs a chance at a better life. CCF received hundreds of inquiries and by checking our Cheetah News page you can keep posted about these cubs.

Speaking of orphans, three more cheetah cubs are now at CCF. We have named them after the Hogwarts trio: Harry, Ron and Hermione. They joined us after a farmer who had picked the cubs up in the bush called us. His herder had heard the cubs calling out to one another for over a week. The cubs were easily caught due to their young age and weak condition; however it took a second week to catch the third cub (Harry). It appeared that they had lost their mother and her fate remains unknown. They are adapting very well to their home at CCF and they remind us daily why we are doing what we do - cheetah conservation, so cheetahs can live free! Importantly, orphan cheetahs need proper housing and care, and because of the success in our awareness, we are receiving more concerned calls such as this from farmers. Sadly, the cost of caring for these orphans results in less funding for our research and conservation programs for the wild cheetahs. For this reason, I would really like to ask all of you, our cheetah friends from all over the world, to help us share the responsibility for the care of cheetahs such as these. As we reach the end of 2005, and as you plan your next year, I would really like to ask you to remember that you can help CCF by giving a live gift to a loved one by sponsoring one or more of the orphan cubs at CCF. To learn how to sponsor a cheetah please visit our Sponsorship page.

We sure were surprised in September when, during our daily feeding of cheetahs, Shiraz arrived with four cubs behind her! (Read about her on the sponsorship page.) They were about 5-6 weeks of age, the time when cubs begin to follow their mothers from the den. As we dated back the birth, we noted that on 14 July Shiraz did not come out to get her food. We did not take this as a problem, as the next day she was there as eager as ever. And, where did these cubs come from? We knew that as well.

For many of your who came to one of my talks during my US and UK tours, you will remember that during our initial camera trapping study, where we were calibrating the cameras, we got some great photos of two males cheetahs. One was missing part of his tail, and what remaining of it looked very infected. So, we set a cage trap and caught him; we named him Bob. Bob went to the veterinarian where his tail was amputated, and was under heavy anesthesia when we put him back into a holding pen, next to the fence where we had set a trap to catch his brother, whom we named Einstein.

We normally would have put Bob in a capture cage to help in catching his brother, but we could not put him in anything smaller due becaue of his recently amputated tail. The next morning, Einstein was caught and Bob was out in the 64 ha camp with our female cheetahs. We were able to get all the females into holding pens and then darted Bob to move him and his brother to our quarantine pens. We collected sperm on Einstein, who was sterile, so we were hopeful Bob was too! But, exactly 93 days latter, cubs were born to Shiraz. We can only be thankful that non of our other females were in heat that day. In 2006, Shiraz and her cubs will be a part of a re-introduction research project. Last year we began this with two other females, Rosie and Daisy.

This year, the 4,000 ha game fenced area of Bellebenno has had 152 swing gates added, with a monitoring program to try to teach warthogs to use the swing gates instead of digging holes to come and go through the fence. If this project is successful, then Shiraz and her cubs will learn to hunt and live in this area with a hopeful future of life back in the wild. Other research for the new year includes continued monitoring of camera traps for on-going censusing research on Namibia's cheetah population. We thank all our volunteers and students for their help through out this past year!

As our hot Namibian summer progresses, our first rains of the year are bringing the antelope calving season into full swing; the bush bursting with life. And, speaking of bush, we are very pleased with how our Bushblok Project has progressed through the year. It's a slow process getting the business up and running, but over the past few weeks, our first two shipments of fuel logs arrived in the UK (over 400 tons). We are also in high spirits this week due to the wonderful news that we passed our Forest Stewardship Certification (FSC). This will enable us to sell our fuel logs to a wider target market. If you are living in the UK, please look for our eco-friendly BushBlok label to warm your hearth while helping us save cheetah habitat. Visit our Bushblok web page for more information on this exciting endeavor.

CCF is always a full facility, from our EarthWatch and CCF students and volunteers to visiting scientists and communal and commercial farmers. Last week we hosted a Southern African Regional Cheetah Workshop, bringing 32 people from six countries together. We assessed what has been accomplished in cheetah conservation collectively from throughout the southern African region and set new objectives for cheetah conservation for the future. Much of our efforts focused on censusing cheetah populations, conservation measures that reduce conflict with cheetahs and livestock, and identifying human-based and development issues with regards to long-term cheetah survival.

We welcome visitors from around the world to visit CCF! And, thanks to the enthusiasm of one of our CCF Oregon Cheetah Run gold sponsors, Bill Harmon, nature and wildlife enthusiast, YOU have an opportunity to spend 14 days exploring the wonders of Namibia with me and other CCF staff in May 2006. The trip, designed by Bill, is being offered through Azumano Travel American Express, where Bill serves as the Vice President of their Retail Travel. For details on this fantastic opportunity, please visit the Azumano Travel web page. Part of the proceeds from this trip will include a donation to CCF, and I look forward to traveling some of Namibia with you.

As CCF bids farewell to 2005 we also thank all our great staff and volunteers who have helped us in our efforts. In particular, I'd like to thank Leona Graham, our past International Program Director who has left CCF this year after having been a key member of our Team helping us become a truly international organization. And, I would like to welcome Patricia Tricorache, who has now joined CCF and taken on most of Leona's past responsibilities. Patricia has been collaborating with us since she first came to Namibia as an Earthwatch volunteer in early 2001. After leaving her Fortune 10 corporate job in 2002, she became a full-time volunteer both in Namibia and the US. Many of you know her from the many projects and activities she has been involved in: newsletters and annual reports, web page maintenance, and PR/Outreach support, among many others. There are so many other staff that have assisted this past year and I would like to again thank Lynda Gearheart who has been our acting CCF USA director for the past year in her guiding the US into some new and exciting efforts to help us raise the awareness and funds to help save the cheetah.

On behalf of our entire CCF team, our best Holiday wishes, and A BIG THANK YOU to all our supporters worldwide for your help in saving the wild cheetah. 

Yours on behalf of the cheetah,

Laurie Marker, PhD
Founder and Executive Director
Cheetah Conservation Fund

We intend to send this e-letter only to those in our database who have expressed an interest in our organization. To be removed from this list or update your account information, please email info@cheetah.org, and please accept our apologies for any inconvenience.