Cleo

In 2004, Cleo was found on a farm, held in a tiny chicken cage, during a CCF visit to check on the health of one of our Anatolian Livestock Guarding Dogs. Following discussion, the farmer agreed to let CCF take the 6 month old cub. Following quarantine she has was introduced to two other young females to develop social skills and play behaviour.

Despite the Ministry of Environment and Tourism notifying the public on guidelines for holding large carnivores in captivity, members of the public continue to blatantly ignore these guidelines. The result is that CCF and other NGOs in Namibia continue to receive carnivores that have been captured for all the wrong reasons and then held in sub-optimum and often appalling conditions.

CCF's Stars: Soraya, Phoenix and Quasar

When these little cubs arrived CCF the afternoon of 13th August 2008, they were barely 2 days old. Their eyes were still closed and their story was a very sad one. We were told that they had been cut out of their mother's womb two days earlier, after a farmer shot the mother because he perceived her as a threat to the livestock he depends on for his survival. When their existence was brought to our attention, a veterinarian was sent to see them and their transfer to CCF was arranged immediately.  Based on their developmental state, they were just about to be born when their mother died.

Despite the efforts made, one little male cub did not gain strength and died the first day. The other three, one girl and two boys, made good progress. The girl is lighter in color than her two brothers, and we called her “Little girl” or “Girl” in the beginning. One of the two boys has a markedly darker face, and we called him “Dark face” or “Face”. The other one of the two boys had a cut on his tail that resulted in nerve damage, so it curls up in the end; we called him “Curly tail” or “Tail”. Those names stuck to them for the first month as we were debating about names to give them.

The first name to be decided on was “Soraya” for “Little Girl”, this name was chosen by the lady who rescued the cubs from the farmer and gave them over to CCF. Soraya is the Persian name for the youthful nebulous star cluster that we know of as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. The former Iranian empress was named after this constellation. Thereby the theme for the names of the other siblings was decided, it was going to be something celestial and grandiose. “Phoenix” was chosen as this constellation has a name of a firebird from Greek mythologies. The Phoenix rises from the ashes after burning with its nest and is therefore a symbol of immortality and resurrection. This beautifully symbolizes the fact that the three siblings are alive and well despite the fact that the odds were stacked against them and that their life started where another one ended. The name “Phoenix” was given to “Face” as he is the darkest one and we associated his dark color with the ashes from which the Phoenix rises. We chose “Quasar” as the third name and gave it to “Tail”. Quasars are the most luminous objects in the known universe and correspond to distant light sources surrounding a powerful black hole.

The three little ones are growing stronger every day, as we grow more and more attached and more and more exhausted, but they are more than worth it! At each one of the up to 8 feedings a day we prepare their food, and stimulate them as their mother would to make them pee and poop. We wash + boil all the feeding utensils.

The cubs opened their eyes between day 5 and 6, and their first teeth appeared a couple of days later. They started crawling around more actively and at four weeks of age we moved them to a new room. To let them have some sunlight we would babysit them outdoors, either on the balcony or in an enclosure next to the office door. We were anxiously waiting for them to reach a month to be able to vaccinate them so they could have a little more freedom. Unfortunately when they were four weeks old, they developed digestive problems that turned out to be caused by a protozoan infection. We took care of this and although they did not gain weight during those days, they all recovered well and are starting to put on weight again. We vaccinated them on 20th September and they are already exploring the outdoors!

Phoenix has already been sponsored; we are now hoping to get sponsors for
Soraya and Quasar!

Click below to sponsor Soraya:

Click below to sponsor Quasar:

Amani

"I was caught by a farmer in the Khomas Hochland area (east of Windhoek) when I was about one year old. CCF does not know what happened to the rest of my family as I was too young to be on my own at that stage. The farmer gave me to a lodge, and I was kept there as a companion for their tame cheetah. However, we never got along and after a year they decided they did not want me anymore. CCF fetched me in June 2006. Amani means 'peace' in Swahili."

Amani is a true testament to the survival of the cheetahs. She was slow to grow accustomed to a new way of life at CCF, but once she found her niche in the girls world, there was no stopping this feisty cat.