In the night sky of the growing savannas, the American veterinarian, Laura Parker, sat thinking with sadness and despair about the possibility that all efforts made in a project to protect the cheetah in southern Africa might be lost.
She had been supervising it with a grant from the World Wildlife Fund. The stars shone beautifully against the background of the soft, velvet-like purple sky. The doctor began thinking about the reason that made cheetah numbers continue to decline.
The cheetah: The doctor retrieved the project story from the beginning, when she was working at the Oregon Wildlife Zoo in her country. She loved cheetah cubs, loved their agile bodies, flexible movements, and the alert looks of their eyes.
Which shine with pure amber color. Because she followed cheetah news all over the world, a piece of news caught her attention saying that cheetahs were on the verge of extinction in southern Africa. In a few years, their number decreased in one country, Namibia, from ten thousand to only three thousand, and the number was still decreasing.
Offering help: Dr. Laura felt panic that day at the idea that these alert, agile animals might disappear from existence. On the same day, she sent a message to the World Wildlife Fund, offering her volunteer work in any project aiming to protect the cheetah from extinction.
She attached her veterinary specialization certificate, her experience in caring for cheetahs, and her scientific research about them. The reply quickly came, informing her of her selection as supervisor of a project to protect the cheetah from extinction in the African savannas.
Travel: She traveled immediately to Namibia and formed a team from the country’s children who were experienced with wildlife. She began monitoring the life of cheetahs and the changes that had occurred to them, which might be a reason for the decline in numbers.
The first reason: She discovered that the first reason lay in the fact that farmers expanded the area of their villages by cutting off large parts of the savannas where cheetahs lived. Since cheetahs didn’t understand the meaning of that, they continued moving through the land they were used to. Farmers began shooting at them out of fear.
Solution to the first reason: Dr. Laura discovered this, so she and her team began educating farmers about other methods, such as placing scarecrows at night on the edges of villages, or using sounds and banging pots to keep these cheetahs away.
Success of the solution: The education was successful, and farmers no longer shot at cheetahs, but their numbers didn’t stop decreasing—only at a lower rate than before.
Finding the other reason: This became a puzzling mystery that occupied Dr. Parker’s mind. While she was sitting under the starlight, remembering the health condition of the last cheetahs she had examined, she suddenly felt refreshed, and an idea lit up in her head that made her shout in joy. She found it! Yes, she found the cause that was making cheetah numbers decline.
The other reason: The land had narrowed for these cheetahs after villages encroached on the savannas. Because cheetahs are creatures meant to run, being the fastest animal on earth with a speed of more than a hundred kilometers per hour, they were no longer able to run to reach this speed, which requires vast land.
Because they were no longer able to run, their hunting decreased, which they couldn’t reach because of their great speed. Their food decreased, so they weakened, their joints dried up, their hearts weakened, they began to get sick and didn’t give birth to new cheetahs, while young cheetahs died prematurely before their time.
Solution to the other reason: Dr. Laura reached this conclusion, so she wrote to the International Fund for the Protection of Wildlife, and the Fund provided her with more money to buy land from the villagers, annexing it to a cheetah reserve. The land expanded, so cheetahs returned to their fast running and successful hunting, which gives them enough food. With the improvement of the health of female cheetahs, they began giving birth to small, beautiful cheetahs.
Dr. Laura’s success in her mission: Now when Dr. Laura sits under the clear night sky of Africa, she watches with reassurance the sparkle of stars and rejoices at the glimmer of cheetahs’ eyes in the night of the savannas, and she feels comfort.