Demand for Cheetahs as Pets Decimating Population

​www.nbcnews.com/news/world/demand-cheetahs-pets-leading-their-extinction-n1235462

Cheetahs are facing the possibility of extinction in the wild because of things like habitat loss, trophy hunting, and fragmented population, but there is another peril cheetahs face emerging as a serious problem. Demand for cheetahs as pets is contributing to their decline in the wild and without tireless efforts to protect them, they face the possibility of extinction.

Cheetahs are being plucked from the wild as babies and sold on the black market for thousands of dollars, mostly to wealthy people from places like Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates to be kept as pets. Mother cheetahs are slaughtered in their dens and their sometimes week old babies are plucked out of the wild to be sold as pets. These babies are often starved to stunt their growth making them smaller and more submissive. It's unbelievably cruel and irresponsible for anyone to obtain a cheetah as a pet in this manner but it's especially disturbing the process in which these babies are obtained.

According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, only 20% of the babies stolen from the wild survive. Whether it's the initial process of stunting their growth or the transportation of the babies by sea to their destination, they face serious hurdles for their survival. The wealthy will then flaunt these animals on social media as a symbol of wealth despite trafficking of cheetahs being illegal in Somaliland, the destination where this story is focused. Somaliland has gone to great lengths to try and tackle the illegal wildlife trade but unfortunately, only an estimated 300 - 500 cheetahs remain in the area.

One of the hardest parts about the rehabilitation process for these cheetahs that are rescued is that they are plucked from the wild so early that it's impossible to rehabilitate them to reenter the wild. They have become dependent solely on humans that they lose their natural instincts. Releasing them back to the wild would ultimately lead to their deaths as they would be unable to hunt or fend off predators. That's why the illegal cheetah trade is so devastating to the cheetah population because in most cases, these rescued cheetahs will never make it back to the wild.

What this story shows us is that humans continue to be the greediest species on our planet. Slaughtering mothers, stealing babies, and selling them in hopes of making profits, buying babies and forcing them to live in cages as pets their entire miserable lives...there's no excuse for the lengths our greed will go to. Wild animals should never be pets, plain and simple. They are called, "wild animals" for a reason and by forcing them into servitude, we are stripping them of every natural instinct they have and selfishly contributing to the extinction of cheetahs in the wild.

HAPPY VEG