On 17th November 2011, a baby cheetah was picked up from a farm located 100 kms away from Naankuse (Farm Lorraine). It was trapped in a capture cage by a farmer to then lure its mom and two siblings into the cage as well. Once caught, its mom and siblings were killed. Luckily, a neighboring farmer saw what was happening and the remaining cub could be rescued and picked up by us.
At first we all thought it was a female cheetah cub, and called it Lorraine, as the name of the farm it was picked up from. It soon became clear though that it was a male cheetah for obvious reasons... and since everyone was already calling him "Cubby", this became his official name.
Between all of us we built a small camp just outside the staff accommodation area on the green lawn, as he needs to be monitored at all times, and he sleeps in Elzette's and Deborah's bedroom as it still gets quite cold at night. He usually behaves very well and sleeps in his cage now, although a few times he has been a bit naughty and urinated on the beds or nibbled on a hand or foot...
He spends the day in his camp, where he loves to play with his teddy, and we frequently visit him and play with him so he does not get bored. Lately we have started to take him up to a larger camp once a day so he has more space to run around. He loves climbing on trees and running around as any cub would do.
The original plan was for Cubby to stay with us and become tame in order to function as an ambassador cheetah for N/a’an ku sê and help raise awareness for all the other cheetahs and carnivores that need support. As he gets older, it is becoming clear though that he has no intention of becoming tame and is actually getting more feisty by the day... We will continue to carefully monitor him and decide on his future depending on his development.
No comments:
Post a Comment