Chasing Cheetahs is another spectacular collaboration by Montgomery and Bishop in the Scientist in the Field series, which just keeps getting better and better. The two veterans traveled to Namibia to the Cheetah Conservation Fund's African headquarters to interview Dr. Laurie Marker, a renowned expert on cheetahs. This former grape farmer made a serendipitous career switch some thirty-plus years ago when she visited a local zoo, Wildlife Safari, with the intention of donating a pair of goat bucks from her farm. She eventually worked her way up to director of the clinic and fell in love with cheetahs when she cared for a pair born in captivity. Under her direction, Wildlife Safari became so successful at breeding cheetahs in captivity that she was hired by the National Zoo to help set up other captive breeding programs.
In the early 1990's, with the status of cheetahs in the wild becoming increasingly threatened, Laurie realized that someone needed to stop the slaughter of cheetahs in Africa. As the world's fastest animal and smallest of the big cats, cheetahs were often blamed by farmers for preying on their livestock and were hunted relentlessly. Laurie realized that she was that someone and set up shop, first in a borrowed home. Using four "ambassador" cheetahs and a dog breeding program, Laurie and her team educate farmers and school children about the plight of the cheetah. "Laurie's maverick approach to conservation is changing minds and turning heads. She's using dogs to save cats and convincing farmers that killing predators doesn't protect livestock."(p. 13)
Ms. Montgomery uses a conversational manner to make the science of conservation accessible, even exciting to young readers. Mr. Bishop's plentiful and gorgeous full-color photographs provide the wow-factor. He carefully documents the field work of the scientists and teen volunteers and the photos of the cheetahs in action and at rest are just spectacular. Pages containing fast facts about cheetahs, the role of predators and the like are interspersed throughout the narrative, ending with one entitled, "Laurie's Advice for Saving the World." A short bibliography containing some fairly old titles and one website, The Cheetah Conservation Fund's, conclude the volume. The website is worth a visit, particularly the "About the Cheetah" for kids page.
This is a much-purchase series on its own, but if you need added incentive, it fills the careers in science section of the curriculum quite nicely.
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