Cheetah researcher and conservationist Laurie Marker shares how her career began in Oregon

Think Out Loud

Cheetah researcher and conservationist Laurie Marker shares how her career began in Oregon

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Published on Apr 3, 2026, 1:34:04 PM
Total time: 00:20:44

Episode Description

Laurie Marker has spent nearly half a century with cheetahs. Her career began when she moved to Oregon in the early 1970s to open the third winery in the state. She began working at Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR to help support her business. This move would start a decades long career working with cheetahs. She eventually found the Cheetah Conservation Fund and moved to Namibia to create a dedicated wildlife reserve and research center for these large felines. Today, cheetahs are considered to have a vulnerable status, with less than 7,000 in the wild. Marker joins us to share more on her life and work with the fastest mammal on the planet that is racing to extinction.

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