Just around
five months old, the baby cheetahs are dehydrated, stunted and so lacking in
the calcium they would normally get from their mother's milk that they have
problems walking. But at least they are alive. The Cheetah
Conservation Fund (CCF) and the government of Somaliland - which broke away
from Somalia in 1991 - have been rescuing trafficked cheetah cubs in the region
for the past four years. Only around
6,700 adult cheetahs are left in the wild worldwide, and the population is
still declining, according to the International Union for Conservation of
Nature. Kidnapped
cubs are often destined for the exotic pet trade in the Middle East but few
people realise the suffering that entails. Four or five cheetah cubs die for
each one that reaches the market, Dr Laurie Marker, the head of CCF, said.
Mothers are often killed. Their first
year, CCF received around 40 cubs in Somaliland, she added. Many didn't survive
long. But by setting up safehouses and providing veterinary care, they've been
able to cut deaths to almost zero, she said. Right now the organisation houses
67 cheetahs. Droughts
exacerbated by global warming are increasing pressure on the cheetahs, she
said, as less grazing supports fewer herds of wild prey and farm animals.
Farmers who once shrugged it off when a cheetah attacked one of their animals
are now less able to shoulder losses, she said. "If a
predator eats their livestock, they are much more angry," she said.
"They will go and track the mother down, where the cubs would be, and try
to get money from the cubs to support the losses that they had." Somaliland
is planning to open a national park where the cheetahs will be able to roam,
Environmental Minister Shukri Ismail Haji, said. But although
the tiny breakaway region lies in the band most affected by climate change, it
cannot access most environmental funding because hardly any world bodies
recognise it as a separate country from Somalia, the minister said. "We are
an unrecognised government. The international funding we can get is very little
as a result."