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Dr Laurie Marker completes successful UK tour

Laurie Marker poses with Anatolian Guarding Dogs
and their owners at Chester Zoo

Dr Laurie Marker, Executive Director and Founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, has returned to the organisation's headquarters in Namibia following a successful lecture and fund-raising tour of the UK.

Laurie's schedule included presentations at Marwell Zoo (Winchester); Guildford; London; and to the Chester branch of Flora & Fauna International at Chester Zoo. She also attended a CCF UK Trustees meeting in Oxford. The public events were extremely well-attended with some presentations sold out.

In London, the presentation at the English Heritage Theatre was preceded by a reception and a stunning wildlife photography show from Andy Rouse. Dr Marker was introduced by co-host of BBC2's Animal Park TV series, Ben Fogle (pictured left, in discussion with Laurie). At Chester, Dr Marker, as part of her presentation, introduced two Anatolian Livestock Guarding Dogs (see photo) and their owners. CCF in Namibia trains these dogs to protect farmers' herds from predators in a highly successful programme that has saved the life of many cheetahs.

The work of CCF has been highlighted recently in the UK by a major feature in the Telegraph Magazine and by the BBC series Animal Park Wild in Africa, along with the Granada Wild documentary about the work of CCF, Return of the Cheetah, shown on the Animal Planet cable/satellite channel.

" I was very pleased with the attendance," said Dr Marker at the conclusion of her tour. "We were able to raise awareness of the plight of the cheetah and what's needed to save it," she said. "Now, more people than ever know about the research and conservation work we have been carrying out for the past fifteen years," she went on.

" The big challenge at the moment is funding," Marker continued. "The drop in value of the US Dollar has really hit our income from the United States and we are hoping that we can encourage more donations from the UK – a few pounds goes a long way," she said. It costs over £2,500 a year to support each of 32 non-releasable cheetahs that are cared for by CCF, in addition to their programmes to support the conservation of the cheetah in the wild.

Dr Marker concluded, "I would like to thank all the people who helped make the tour such a success, from the staff of CCF UK, CCF International and Friends of Conservation, to our hosts at the different events, and of course to everyone who attended. I am especially grateful to those making a donation to our work – this is such an important time for us and funding today is more challenging than ever."

Dr Marker will return to the UK in November. For more on the work of CCF, or to make a donation, visit the CCF UK web site or email CCF at outreach@cheetah.org.