Cheetah Expert Urges People to Stop Taking Cheetahs as Pets, Says We Are 'Loving the Species to Death'

Dr. Laurie Marker launches five-week U.S. tour to raise awareness for cheetah poaching and the illegal pet trade, calls on Hollywood artists to stop depicting cheetahs as pets

News provided by

Cheetah Conservation Fund

Sep 25, 2018, 13:30 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Laurie Marker, Founder and Executive Director of Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), embarks on a U.S. speaking tour today to educate people about the impact of taking cheetahs from the wild to become pets. Despite cheetah poaching and the cheetah pet trade being outlawed in most parts of the world, these practices are still happening, with devastating consequences. Five out of six cubs poached for the trade will not survive long enough ever to become a pet.

Dr. Laurie Marker traveled to Hargeisa, Somaliland, earlier this month – ground zero for cheetah traffickers -- where she provided emergency care for extremely sick cubs confiscated from smugglers at a ‘safe house’ CCF maintains in the city. "Despite our best efforts to save two tiny cubs intercepted from smugglers, one died in my hands, and it was heartbreaking," said Dr. Marker.

"People see photos of pet cheetahs on social media and hyper-glamourized images in pop culture, like music videos that depict beautiful women with pet cheetahs riding in luxury cars and cheetahs with diamond collars on leashes. What they are not seeing is what happens to the other five cubs. Once taken, a poached cub will likely die within three weeks due to dehydration and malnutrition. If it survives to three months and is sold into the trade, chances are it will die within two years anyway from early lack of care and improper diet," said Dr. Marker.

CCF research indicates an estimated 300 cheetah cubs are poached and smuggled into the Arabian Peninsula each year to be sold in the illegal pet trade, most coming in through Yemen from the Horn of Africa. In areas of East Africa most affected by trafficking (Ethiopia and northern Kenya), the total adult wild cheetah population is estimated at only 300 individuals. Poaching threatens these smaller, fragmented, already vulnerable, cheetah populations with local extinction. Reducing demand for pet cheetahs is key to mitigating the threat.

"I urge people to stop taking cheetahs as pets. I implore the Hollywood community to stop glamourizing cheetahs as pets. Humans are loving the species to death," said Dr. Marker.

Dr. Marker addressed zoo and conservation leaders in Seattle at the Association of Zoos & Aquariums annual conference yesterday. She will lecture in Portland; Palm Desert, Santa Barbara, Ojai, Santa Rosa and San Francisco, California; Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City; Dallas; Irving, Texas; Indianapolis; and Washington, D.C.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Susan Yannetti
CCF External Relations Manager
[email protected]
202.716.7756
Facebook.com/CCFcheetah
CCF Twitter: @CCFCheetah
Dr. Marker Twitter: @Chewbaaka
#SaveTheCheetah
#SayNoToExoticPets

SOURCE Cheetah Conservation Fund