Dream job lands Boardman native in Africa
Katie Echement
By ASHLEY LUTHERN
The Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, Africa, was founded in 1990 by Dr. Laurie Marker.
BOARDMAN — When all the other kids in sixth grade at Holy Family Elementary School were writing about dogs and bears as their favorite animals, Kate Echement was focused on the cheetah.
“I remember writing a paper about the cheetah and going really in depth, talking about their genetics and how the Egyptians used to worship them,” said the 25-year-old Boardman native and 2001 Cardinal Mooney High School graduate.
After years spent learning about the cheetah at schools, internships and volunteer positions and working in the education department at the Pittsburgh Zoo, Echement will get on a plane Tuesday and fly halfway around the world to work at her “dream job” at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, Africa.
The CCF is an internationally recognized cheetah research center that was founded in 1990 by Dr. Laurie Marker, who has worked with cheetahs since 1974.
But Echement’s new job isn’t her first stint at the CCF. After her graduation from Miami University of Ohio in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in zoology, she spent almost five months volunteering in Namibia.
“By some miracle, there were three orphaned [cheetah] cubs and Laurie [Marker] just went ‘Here, you go raise them,’” Echement said of her first opportunity to raise cheetah cubs.
She named the three cubs Harry, Ron and Hermoine after the Harry Potter book series and began her full-time task of monitoring them.
“They had already known a mom because they were 3 months old when they came in, and they were scared of humans,” she said. “I had to have a lot of patience. I would sit in the enclosure with them all day reading so that they would get used to my voice and my presence.”
Echement was bit by a cheetah once.
“Ron had a bone in his mouth and he chomped part of it off and swallowed it, which is dangerous because the sharp edges could hurt him as he digests it,” she said. “I had the other end of the bone and pulled it out of his mouth. That’s when he bit me, but he released my finger right away.”
When she returns, Echement will be reunited with Harry, Ron and Hermione, in addition to the other 51 cheetahs she will care for as the primary cheetah keeper at CCF.
Her tasks will include giving the cheetahs daily feedings, cleaning the pens, checking the fences and working on numerous research projects.
Even though she has worked with researchers in Washington, D.C., and Africa, Echement said her parents, Jim and Phyllis, have been her biggest influence.
“I read books and my parents let me train our dog. It was a given that anytime we went on vacation, we’d stop at a zoo. They’ve always been very supportive,” she said.
Echement’s advice to others growing up in the Mahoning Valley who want to enter a competitive field is to work hard, be persistent and contact professionals in that particular area who can offer career guidance.
“In school, when I said I wanted to go to Africa, some people looked at me like I was crazy,” she said. “But nothing’s impossible, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”
SEE ALSO:Cheetahs