ZodiaK
VIP
Veterinary Technician in Somaliland
During the last few days of my tenure at CCF, we received a call that individuals had taken two male cheetah cubs from the wild. Once the Somaliland government safely confiscated the cubs, they were transported to our safe house. The two tiny cubs below had been with their captors for an estimated four weeks already. Thankfully, they were in pretty good health when we received them. This is highly uncommon. Most of the cubs CCF receives are in terrible health, full of parasites and malnourished.Because these cubs are taken from the wild and their mothers at such a young age, they are not able to be released back into the wild. Additionally, many of the cubs CCF receives also have genetic disorders (such as bone malformations) or infectious diseases (such as herpes virus, coronavirus and respiratory diseases) that also prohibits their release into the wild. These animals will need medical intervention for the remainder of their lives, including monthly preventatives and yearly vaccinations.
It is important to properly socialize them to people because they will need to have regular veterinary care. Throughout their lives, we want to provide care in the least stressful way possible. We use a mesh tent to acclimate new cubs to our facility and volunteers while also making sure they do not wander off or get themselves into trouble with electric cords and other inside dangers they would not be familiar with. They need to be around humans at this age because their health status is being monitored closely. We feed them several times per day to accommodate their size, age and natural feeding schedule.
The two female cheetahs pictured above in their hammock and on the ground are comfortably resting while in my presence. I was in their enclosure to monitor the behavior/health of one of their house mates. Their behavior in this picture shows the importance of proper socialization. Since these cheetahs were socialized to CCF’s staff and volunteers they can be free from fear and comfortably get medical treatment.
Each day the keepers clean the cheetah enclosures, so it is a high priority for the cheetahs to be socialized and desensitized to our presence so that everyone can remain safe and healthy.
CCF’s Cheetah Safe House 1 (SH1) in Somaliland, has some of the youngest orphaned cheetah cubs. At this age, male and female cubs are housed together and they are placed with similar sized cubs. We also keep the cubs that were rescued together housed together while in rehabilitation. This allows them to socialize with cheetahs they are already familiar with. In between rounds and medical treatments, I would go inside this enclosure and just sit down to get the cubs used to my presence. Each of the cubs has their own unique personality as well as comfortability with human interaction. It is important to make them feel safe around people by letting them approach you rather than you approaching them. Watching them snuggle together and play was a nice pass time too.
At the time of writing CCF’s Field Centre in Somaliland had 87 cheetahs and one leopard. The cost to care includes providing meat a total of $7000 per week or $28,000 per month. This amount will continue to grow as the cubs grow.
Cub season in the wild is October – January, and we anticipate that more cubs will be coming to CCFs safe houses again very soon. We need your help with raising the much needed funds to care for the cubs.
CCF is creating a Sanctuary for these cubs in an area called GeedDeeble which will be within the countries 1st national park. We are hopeful that these facilities will be ready by January to move the cats to their new, natural and expansive facilities. Thanks to our interns and volunteers who are helping care for these confiscated, orphan cubs.
