Named for the sleek Legolas in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the fast cat was healthy and impressive, the largest ever seen.

Legolas was one of an unusual coalition of cheetahs: Four brothers instead of the groups of two or three usually seen by scientists at the non-profit group Cheetah Conservation Botswana where the Brisbane-born Horgan now works.

All four were bigger than the 100 cheetahs weighed before by the conservation group as part of a collaring program with the Royal Veterinary College of London to track their movements.

Legolas weighed at 68 kilograms, compared with the average of 44 kilograms. He was 20cms longer and 9cms taller than average males. His brothers were nearly as big.

"These boys were the epitome of good health," Horgan says. "I felt like they were untouchable because they were so strong.

"(Legolas) broke the scale while we were measuring him.

"His head was so big that the callipers we usually used to measure the size of the skull wouldn't fit across his head."

A year later Legolas was found shot dead by the side of a road. He was very likely killed by one of the many livestock farmers who shoot the cats "for fun" because so they see them as a pest.

"It absolutely broke my heart," Horgan says.

A century ago, there were 100,000 cheetahs across the world. Today there are 7100. Of those, around 1200 live in Botswana, a number that has remained stable because of a range of programs that are changing farmers' attitudes and educating young people.

A December 2016 study found the cheetah has also been driven out of 91 per cent of its historic range. The most comprehensive survey yet of cheetah populations, the study by Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Panthera, found Asiatic cheetah populations had been hit hardest, with fewer than 50 remaining in one isolated pocket of Iran.

Releasing the research, Panthera's Cheetah Program Director, Dr Kim Young-Overton, called for cheetahs to be uplisted from vulnerable to endangered on the list of threatened species: "We've just hit the reset button in our understanding of how close cheetahs are to extinction ... securing protected areas alone is not enough. We must think bigger, conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-ranging cats inhabit, if we are to avert the otherwise certain loss of the cheetah forever."

It has been difficult to gather hard information on the species leading to its plight being overlooked, said Dr Sarah Durant, ZSL/WCS lead author and Project Leader for the Rangewide Conservation Program for Cheetah and African Wild Dog. It was much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought, given the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild and its need for space.

Horgan, an Australian who previously worked at the late Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo,says cheetahs have a fearsome reputation and often took the blame for livestock losses.

Yet they were the "scaredy cats of the cat world, built for speed and not confrontation", Horgan says by phone from her base near the Kalahari desert.

"One of their biggest threats is conflict with livestock farmers where cheetahs are taking the odd goat or calf," she says.

They are unfairly blamed by farmers for destroying livestock, and regularly shot by farmers in Botswana's Kalahari desert where farms have proliferated.

Yet research has found that only six per cent of a cheetah's diet is livestock like goats and cattle, and the rest is usually small mammals like hares.

Because cheetahs range across farmlands, the CCB has had to change farmers' attitudes.

Horgan's group runs camps to educate farmers' children on cheetahs, and their value as a tourist attraction. It also tracks cheetahs, with collaring programs like the one attached to Legolas. As well, it is teaching animal husbandry so farmers can breed healthier animals which are less vulnerable to predators.

It is also saving homeless mutts from being euthanised by turning them into guardian dogs to protect farmers' livestock from cheetahs.

Other groups have used specialised guard dogs, which are expensive.

"These mongrels are doing better than the purebreeds, at about one-fifth of the cost," Horgan says.

The dogs are no match in size, but they disrupt the cheetah's hunting pattern, and will warn farmers of a cheetah's approach while herding the livestock into a group.

"Stray dogs are being given a second chance at life by being conservation animals, who would have thought that these dogs on death row now saving cheetahs?" says Horgan, the group's education and public relations coordinator.

Horgan says the stability of cheetah numbers in Botswana shows attitudes can change, although it was easier to do so in good times than hard times of drought.

The day after scientists collared Legolas, the son of a local livestock owner was invited to watch the collaring of Gimli (one of the cat's brothers).

The son, Sheldon, patted the cheetah.

Horgan asked him: "So, do you think you can convince your Dad not to shoot these guys?"

"No one is touching MY cheetah!" Sheldon replied.

Horgan says she would never forget that moment.

"Usually the farmers are always referring to the cheetahs as belonging to "you greenies"! But once the perception of ownership changes, then people naturally want to protect them."