Cubby April 2012

Cubby has grown so much in the last few months - he is about 6 months old and is now living in a new large camp just next to the kitchen lapa where the staff and volunteers eat and socialise. 

Although staff members Lucy and Elzette were more than happy to continue having Cubby live outside their rooms and sleep with them at night, Cubby was growing up and outgrowing his play camp. We built a new and more importantly, large enclosure for him where he can grow up with the space and company he needs, and moved him over in January.

By locating the camp by the volunteer's social area he is still very much part of everything that goes on. With several new baby animals around including a baby baboon called Bobby, a Jack Russell puppy called Alfie, and a zebra called Benny, who all walk around the green area by his camp, Cubby's curiosity is at its highest level. He stares intently at the animals running around, particularly Bobby, stalking him up and down the fence line. We're sure Bobby likes to wind him up, as he jumps around and runs up to the camp teasing Cubby, and then scuttles back to the safe arms of a volunteer. We know if there wasn't that fence there we might not have a baby baboon anymore as Cubby's cheetah instincts kick in!

To ensure Cubby gets the exercise that he needs, we have devised a cheetah lure - this is a battery operated pulley system which encourages the cheetah to run after a rag which is attached to a rope on the pulley system. The motorised machine works just like the system used in greyhound racing.

This is a new system we've recently introduced at N/a'an ku se and we are making it part of the daily routine for cheetahs who we know will be in our care for a long time and need this type of exercise. Cubby has responded very well to it, as we expected, because ever since he first arrived with us we played with him encouraging him to run after a teddy bear tied to the end of a long rope. 

Cubby runs after the rag in short bursts, which is normal for cheetahs who are sprinters rather than long distance runners. Their agility lies in running extremely fast over short distances to hunt down animals, rather than lengthy hunts like the wild dog species for instance. 

On days when the machine is being used with other cheetahs, the volunteers run around the camp with a bottle tied to the end of a long rope, which seems to work just as well!