Joyce and Abigale were born by means of an emergency cesarian in 2016 and weren't breathing when they were born. After hours of struggle, Dr. Sandra Bertram eventually got them to breathe. Ever since then, it's been a constant struggle with their health. They did not get any colostrum from the mum and therefore had no immune systems. However, these girls are part of a breeding loan, which means they will go back to their original owner soon. We feel it is best for them to stay at our project.
Cheetah Experience is a breeding project, where we use DNA profiles and our International Studbook to make ethical and responsible decisions. In order to maintain genetic diversity, it is necessary to do breeding loans with ethical projects to bring in different blood lines and strengthen the gene pool. Every cheetah counts. We only have 350 cheetahs in protected reserves in South Africa. To sustain that and improve the gene pool we need to put captive bred cheetahs back into the wild.
If we can secure the future of Joyce and Abigail with us, they will be able to breed in another two years, and we can use some of their cubs to put in protected reserves and ensure that the cheetah numbers will increase. The cheetah has been driven out of 91 percent of its historic range. They once roamed nearly all of Africa and much of Asia. In Asia fewer than 50 individuals are remaining in one isolated pocket. Please help us to contribute to the cheetahs in protected areas.
If we cannot get the cheetah numbers up in the protected reserves by releasing more non related cheetahs the number will decline, more inbreeding will happen and eventually the cheetah gene pool will become weaker and the possibility is that we can loose them all in nature. Everybody wants to have these majestic endangered animals in the wild, and so we do this by breeding cheetahs with different genes to ensure the long term goal of saving the cheetahs in the wild.
