Meilia's Rescuing Cheetahs

RESCUING CHEETAHS

 

ISSUE:

Quick as the cheetah may be, though, it is far from invincible. The pale-yellow cat with black spots was once a common sight throughout Africa and much of Asia. Just over 100 years ago, there were about 100,000 cheetahs in the world.

But in the the 20th century, that number dropped. Poachers captured cheetahs to sell as pets. Hunters shot them for sport. And people built cities and towns where the cats' habitat used to be. Today, there are only about 10,000 cheetahs left.

SOLUTIONS:

In 1977, Marker moved to Namibia, a country in southern Africa where a once-thriving cheetah population was quickly shrinking. Farmers were killing the wild cats. "It's not that the people wanted to kill cheetahs," says Marker. They were trying to protect their farm animals.

Marker had an idea. She knew that for thousands of years, farmers in Turkey had used special dogs, called Anatolian shepherds, to protect their livestock. These guard dogs scare away predators without hurting them. "They bark loudly," says Marker. "They stand their ground."

About 20 years ago, Marker and her team began placing the dogs on Namibian farms. Since then, she says, "we've stopped the killing and doubled the country's cheetah population."

MY OPINION :

Yes , because if we didn't protect cheetahs, they soon will be extinct.

MY SOLUTION:

Is to not shot cheetahs and their habitats.     To keep cheetahs population.