One Woman Fights to Save Her Beloved Cheetahs

July 14, 2009— -- The numbers are staggering: Just 100 years ago, there were 100,000 cheetahs on Earth. Now, 90 percent of these remarkable cats are gone, with human interference hastening their decline.

One woman, Laurie Marker, is at the forefront of the fight to save the world's fastest land animal.

Recently, "Nightline" travelled to the high plains of Namibia to witness first-hand the fight to preserve these remarkable cats.

It was 19 years ago that Marker moved from her native California to Namibia, which has the largest cheetah population on Earth. The founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, Marker has become perhaps the world's leading expert on -- and fiercest protector of -- these fast and fast-disappearing cats.

Watch "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. ET TONIGHT for the full story.

Her abiding passion for the creatures -- which she calls her "babies" -- is clear.

"They're so beautiful," she said. "They're the most amazing animal on the face of the Earth."

She introduced "Nightline" to the three 10-month-old cheetahs who live in her backyard: Soraya, Quasar and Phoenix.

These are just three of the 50 cats who live with Marker at her facility in Namibia's Waterberg Plateau. Her foundation now employs 30 people who study and take care of the cheetahs on this sprawling 113,000-acre preserve.

Marker and her team must be sure to provide plenty of exercise for the cheetah cubs -- they are, after all, the fastest land animals on Earth. The cubs chase a rag attached to a pulley, and will eventually graduate to chasing a truck loaded with fresh donkey meat.

Exercise is crucial for the cats, who are designed by nature to chase after prey at speeds up to 80 miles an hour.

The foundation also provides education for students in Namibia and a few of the dwindling number of countries where cheetahs still live in the wild. They learn how to save these animals from their number one predator: humans.