SIFAKA BLOG

The Cheetah Conservation Fund recently got in another orphaned cheetah cub. The Namibian Government got a hold of the cub and called us to come and help. When the little girl arrived at CCF she was in excellent health, although she was very scared. She has an angry little face, and she paces across her yard most of the day. We think she is about four months old, which means that it is unlikely that she will ever be able to return to the wild. Her name is Tiny Rohini Talalla, and she is quickly capturing our hearts!

Cheetah cubs spend nearly 22 months with their mothers before they are able to hunt and survive on their own. This makes it very difficult for a young orphaned cheetah to ever be able to fully survive outside of captivity. We must be in contact with these young orphans in order for them to survive, which means they become somewhat used to humans. Even if we could teach the orphans how to hunt, they would not know that they should be scared of humans. So, if we were to release these animals, they would likely come too close to humans and cause conflict.

For now, we are trying our best to make sure that Tiny Rohini Talalla has a very nice life. Her cage actually sits right in front of my desk, so I get to watch her all day long as I do my work! Also, when she grows up, she may even get to live with little Polly. We’re hoping that they would be very good friends for each other, but we’ll see how it goes!