CHEETAHS ARE ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION AS THE CUB TRADE THRIVES

  • 13/11/2021

Somalia: Tiny, weeks-old cheetah cubs suckled from baby bottles and purred weakly, their condition still dangerously precarious after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in the Horn of Africa.


Around half of the cubs rescued from traffickers do not survive the ordeal — and there are serious concerns for the tiniest of these, a frail infant nicknamed "Green" who weighs only 700 grammes.

"It was very touch and go with Green," Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, said as she examined the mewling cub at the nonprofit organization's Somaliland rescue centre.

They are the fortunate ones; every year, an estimated 300 cheetah cubs are trafficked through Somaliland to wealthy buyers in other countries looking for exotic pets.

Cubs who survive being kidnapped from their mothers and shipped out of Africa to Yemen and then to other countries can fetch up to $15,000 on the black market.

It's a busy trade, less well-known than criminal markets for elephant ivory or rhino horn, but it's just as deadly for Africa's most endangered big cat. 

There were an estimated 100,000 cheetahs in the world a century ago. Human encroachment and habitat destruction have reduced their numbers to less than 7,000 today.

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