From this weekend, visitors to the National Zoo and Aquarium will have the chance to get up close and personal with three one-year-old cheetah cub brothers.
Named Asani, Viking, and Zambi, the trio made the trip over from South Africa during lockdown, arriving on 23 September before completing a month of quarantine.
Since then, the cubs have spent the last few weeks getting used to their surrounds at the Zoo – the people, their neighbours and their sweet enclosure.
“Being in this yard it’s very big for them so they get a chance to run around while having the public so close,” said Zoo cheetah keeper Leah Carnegie.
“Seeing people so close, seeing little kids running around, prams, strollers … it’s all different, it’s all new … New sounds, new people, new things to check out.”
The boys spent their first 11 months going through training to become ambassador animals – basically meaning people can be brought in to meet them to raise awareness and better educate the public on their plight.
“It’s not well known, there is only about 6,500 wild cheetahs left and these guys are the quickest declining big cat in Africa,” Leah said.
The Zoo supports cheetah outreach and conservation programs in South Africa.
The cheetahs ‘very much love being around people’
Their meet-a-cheetah program offers the public the chance to give them a pat, get some photos, and talk to the keepers about the enchanting wild cats.
“Having three young boys is something that is new to the Zoo and being able to bring people in and share that as well is an amazing opportunity,” Leah said.
“They’ve been hand raised and been around people their whole life so they very much love being around people.”
Leah said part of the reason cheetahs can be trained from birth to work well in human-oriented programs is due to their “flighty” nature.
“If they weren’t hand raised, you probably wouldn’t get anywhere near them … That’s one of the reasons we can work in with them.”
The cheetahs form formidable bonds with their keepers and grow to love spending time with them; and the feeling is mutual for Leah.
“I’ve always been a cat person, so I always fell in love with the cheetahs,” she said.
“It brings that amazing opportunity to work in with a wild animal, they are a wild animal at heart, we do a lot of training, you essentially form that bond but it’s also about that respect.”
With respect for the animal paramount, the meet-a-cheetah program will certainly be run on the cubs’ terms.
“It’s all about when they want to do it,” Leah said.
“Some days they don’t want a bar of us, fair enough, we don’t push it, but other days we can’t get out of there because all they want is pats!”
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