LAURIE MARKER Co-Founder and Executive Director, The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) Laurie Marker began her lifeıs work with cheetahs by helping develop a US and international captive program to assist this listed, endangered species, establishing the most successful captive cheetah-breeding program in North America during her 16 years (1974-1988) at Oregon's Wildlife Safari. In 1990 she co-founded the not-for-profit Cheetah Conservation Fund, moving to Namibia to develop a permanent conservation Research Centre on one of the worldıs last strongholds of the cheetah, the expansive Namibian farmlands. In 1992 CCF was registered as a Namibian Trust. By July 2000 CCF had opened their new field research station, complete with a Cheetah Museum and Visitor/Education Centre. Laurie had first come to Namibia in 1977 when she brought a captive-born, hand-raised cheetah to Namibia to determine if a cheetah must be taught to hunt or if the process was fully instinctual‹first-of-its-kind research to better understand if there was a chance for captive-born cheetahs to be re-introduced into the wild. She learned about the conflict between livestock farmers and cheetahs in Namibia, discovering that wild cheetahs needed help. In the early 1980's, with collaborators at the National Zoo and National Cancer Institute (USA), she helped identify the cheetahıs lack of genetic variation, one of its major challenges to survival. In 1988, in collaboration with these two institutions she became the Executive Director of the Center for New Opportunities in Animal Health Sciences, based at Smithsonian Institutionıs National Zoo. She continues to serve as a NOAHS Research Fellow. In 1988 she developed the International Cheetah Studbook, a registry of captive cheetah worldwide, and continues as International Studbook Keeper. In 1996 she was made a vice-chair of the World Conservation Unionıs (IUCN) Species Survival Commissionıs (SSC) Cat Specialist Group. In 2000 she was recognised as one of Time Magazineıs Heroes for the Planet. In 2001 she was honored in Namibia itself, receiving Namibiaıs farming communityıs public recognition of Laurieıs and CCFıs contributions. Laurie works actively to carry out CCF's mission: ³to secure habitats for the long-term survival of cheetah and their ecosystem through multi-disciplined and integrated programs of conservation, research and education². CCFıs activities include: radio-tracking research to understand more about cheetah distribution and ecology; bio-medical research to learn more about over-all health, diseases and genetic make-up; habitat and ecosystem research; wildlife and livestock management to reduce predator conflicts; and non-lethal predator control methods, including the highly successful and renowned Livestock Guarding Dog Program. CCF also supports extensive environmental education programmes. With only +12,000 cheetah remaining worldwide, earthıs fastest land animal, the cheetah, Africaıs most endangered cat, needs immediate help to ensure its survival. Laurie, through the internationally focused work of CCF, is the cheetahıs greatest ally. For further information please contact: Leona Graham, Outreach Director, CCF: Leona@cheetah.org