Lara Elson, of Birse, Aboyne, is a first year zoology student at Aberdeen University and is to travel to Botswana during the summer break to assist with cheetah conservation.

Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) was formed in 2003 to address the threat to the nation's cheetah population.

The major challenge for the project, funded by grant aid and donor support, is one of improving community perceptions towards predators and ensuring that retaliatory killings do not continue to threaten cheetah numbers while, at the same time, supporting and protecting rural community welfare.

Lara, 23, hopes to buy camera traps for the project and assist in the setting up of the new equipment and the tracking of the cats.

"I've loved wildlife all my life - it's one of my big passions - and went out to South Africa for four-and-a-half years after school and before starting university", she said.

"Because I had summer holidays this year, I wanted to get some experience and spend time doing something for the wildlife that I love so much.

"I found this research project on the internet and contacted the people running it to see if I could help out. They said they usually only take on placement students in an admin role, but I sent my CV out to them and they could see that I've got experience and am trained in dangerous game and rifle handling and they said 'we could put you to better use!"

"I will be working with another student in CCB's Ghanzi Camp and hopefully setting up the camera traps."

"The camera traps we set up are motion sensitive cameras set along the known paths cheetahs use. As soon as any animal walks past it, it gets a photo. It identifies territories and home ranges for cheetahs in the area."

"We hope to work with the local farmers who are shooting the cheetah to see if there's any way they can work with us to conserve cheetahs."

According to Lara, wildlife/human conflict has had a devastating impact throughout the world and it is an issue largely responsible for the loss of 90% of the cheetah population (around 90,000 individual cats) in the course of just a single century. The 10,000+ wild cheetah population in Africa today is classified as 'vulnerable' on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.

After leaving school, Lara, whose parents run Praesmohr House care home in Aboyne, studied Field Guiding and Lodge Management in Durban, South Africa, and was then offered a permanent job at a Mabula Game Reserve in the Waterburg region, where she remained for three years.

She then worked as camp manager at an exclusive five-star private lodge in Imbali, in South Africa's vast Kruger National Park where, amongst other duties, her job involved chasing lions from the camp and fixing outside showers broken by wandering elephants.

"I have been very lucky, as I first visited South Africa when I was about 12 years old, with my parents, visiting my aunt and uncle on holiday", said Lara, who attended Aboyne Primary School and academy. "It was really a childhood dream of mine that when I grew up I wanted to be a game park ranger!"

"I hope to use my zoology degree to eventually go over to South Africa to carry out research on larger predators, such as big cats."

Lara will depart for Botswana on July 29 and, after her CCB work, will visit South Africa for three weeks before returning to the UK on September 17.

She is currently fundraising to buy the camera traps for the project, which cost around 145 Euros each.


Any businesses or individuals wishing to make a donation towards the camera traps can contact her on (013398) 85374. More information can be found at: www.cheetahbotswana.com