Return of the Cheetah- Horn of Africa

The world's fastest land animal is in a race for survival. My name is Hazen Adel. As a biologist and survival expert, I've dedicated my life to learning about our natural world and how to save it. I finally made it here in the Horn of Africa, picking up from the work that I started last year with the Cheetah Conservation Fund. There she is. Where the focus there in Namibia was about trying to get as many cheetahs back into the wild as possible. One, two, three. There she goes. But here in Somaliland, this winds up being a hot spot for where cheetahs, especially young cheetahs, are being taken out of the wild, stolen, and being put right into the illegal pet trade. So I'm here meeting back up with Dr. Lori Marker to see exactly how these cats are being rehabilitated to ensure the greatest survival rate of these very precious and very rare animals. While I'm en route to the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Center, there's an urgent rescue underway. If you could get them on the road right now. Dr. Lori Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, has got a call from the local authorities about 10 cheetah cubs discovered in a village hut. The team springs into action. Manager Chris Wade and a crew of vets and keepers set off. The cubs are quickly assessed on the spot before being moved back to the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Center. It's okay. It's with us. They got two arrests. I think that's sort of it for now. But yeah, we're on the way. Just stick them right over here. Dr. Marker and her team start by assessing the cubs for any injuries, providing more first aid, and recording information about their health. Do we take temperature? Yeah, we'll take it. It's okay. It's a little needle. It's okay. Good girl. What size? Good girl. The conditions the cubs were found in has left them with a lot of scars. Okay, they're full of a lot of ticks or fleas. They're not just out of the bush. They've been handled. For now, the danger is over for these cubs, but it's just the start of a long journey of rehabilitation. Thank you, sir. Dr. Marker. How are you? Oh, great. It's been a bit. So glad to see you. Yeah. Welcome to Smalleyland. Yeah, thank you. I'm really wanting to come out here and see the place. Yeah, lots going on here. Oh, and who is this one? Little tiny ones. Oh, my goodness. Well, we're going to go in and feed them right now. Do you want to join me? I'd love that, yes. Come on. Wow. The Cheetah Conservation Fund has a staggering 117 cheetahs, including 20 cubs in their care. That's 20% of the total population of cheetahs in the Horn of Africa. The cheetahs range in age from two months old to fully grown adults. So we're going to go into the nursery, and as you get through, you're going to go to the right, and this is our meat room for our cubs. This is Frankie. Okay. Hi, Frankie. Hi. Nice to meet you. And so we've got their food ready to go. This is for those little guys out there? So they're in transition now, going from their milk and meat to bones. So we're going to give them first their milk with their calcium supplement. And so everything here is pretty calculated. 0.41. And how often are you feeding these ones? Three times a day. Okay. Yeah, they're growing. And then we'll just take our bowls. Okay, here we go. Look at how cute they are. You grab blue here? Can you grab blue? Wow, they all have different colors. They've been partying? They get colors because we have to tell them apart. Oh, I see. These guys were full of fleas when we got them. They were about seven days, ten days old. So we've had them about a month and a half at this point. So they've actually reached a milestone. They are at about two kgs at this point. Today. Two kilograms, okay. So they got the food that they need, but now we're going to train them into having some bone, huh? Yeah. You got green in your hands? That's red's bone. All right. Okay, red. Here you go. I can see why you color coat them at this point because they're all equally cute. Red, green, blue. And then this one. And then we have, that's Gaia. Gaia, oh, that's a goddess of earth, right? Greek goddess? Okay. That's very appropriate, right? Well, they sure are squirmy and cute. Look at that face. Small lessons like this are milestones in the cubs' rehabilitation journey. The meat without the bowl. Okay, no bowl. Mine! Their instincts kick right in, don't they? They know exactly what to do. And actually, chewing on the bone is really important because it gets all their digestive juices going. These cubs are lucky. In the illegal wildlife pet trade, for every cheetah that survives, four others die. The odds are against them. Especially the youngest. These cats, as you can see, coming in so little, are not going to be able to go back out into the wild. They're really habituated to humans. Well, when you get them so tiny, they have no other choice. And so they go through a process. They're now vaccinated. They're first two vaccinees, which is really important to at least keep them healthy. The vision is that eventually these won't be able to go back out into the wild, but potentially maybe their offspring could eventually go back out into the wild. So it's rewilding, rehabilitation, a long, long, long process. Remember last year when we put Jet out? Yes. Which was just, again, a heartwarming experience. Right. Come on out. She's looking up. There she goes. And how's Jet doing? Well, she was out free for a year. We tracked her carefully and she was great. And one day her collar stopped and we went and checked and she was fast, quick dead. We think she got bit by a snake, which is not uncommon. It's one of the many factors those cats have to deal with in the wild. Besides that and human wildlife conflict, you end up with similar issues. But on a good side, we put out four cats last year. And the other three females all had cubs. I see. Big success. Yes. And we've actually been able to get some photos of those cubs, so it was really neat. The farmers are now tracking all them, so that's really exciting. And you know how important the rural communities are. Yeah. So we work with our rural communities here. We've developed conservancies. And we've got a conservancy meeting this afternoon with some of the village leaders. Would you come with me? That would be really interesting. I think that you'd enjoy meeting them and seeing the process of what we're talking about. If cheetahs are ever going to have a fighting chance at returning to the wild in this region, they will need the local community on their side. A key part of the Cheetah Conservation Fund's mission is working with community leaders to create a conservancy area where cheetahs will one day help bring back a healthy ecosystem and even wildlife tourism. Come on in. Okay. We've got our community here, and we're going to have a talk about the area around, which is the conservancy area. All right. Hello. This is Hazen. He's one of my friends. So we've got maps. Each one of them have mapped out their villages, where they have their houses, their villages, where the wildlife is. One aspect of the conservancy work is finding out what wildlife exists in which areas. From surveying the land and speaking with the locals. This shows the mountains that are there. Okay. Despite the loss of these majestic animals, the community is now taking a stand for conservation. Even though there's a long way to go before cheetahs can be rewilded in the Horn of Africa, the community's shared interest in their environment and strong historical connections to the land are promising signs. For the staff at the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Center, tending to all the cats in their care is a 24-hour job, starting with a head count and breakfast. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and lend a helping hand to the general manager, Chris, and his local team. Okay. If you just want to hold on there a second, we're going to let the feed car go in front, and then we're going to head down to an area that we call top cats. Okay. So we've got top, middle, bottom cats. We always start at the top and just work our way down. So this is yet another one of your morning routines. Every morning, the keeping team will go out. We need to visualize every single cheetah. So, for instance, there's two in here. If we don't find two in here, then we need to make a plan to go in and actually visualize them. So we just go down to the bottom of here, and we'll go up the middle of this next one. Just go up right through the middle of these two? Just go right through, yes. And then we should have two cheetah on the left, Rema and Madda, who have just moved down here. But Jamal, he's one of our keepers, may have to stop and call them up here. They're over the back, so if we keep going up to their management area, because that's where they'll come to. Oh, here we've got one here. Okay, so just slowly, slowly. So we've got two here. This is Rema on the outside, and Madda on the inside. Slowly we get to this gate, and we just need to get visual two. How many do you have now, Jamal? You've got two, so we can keep going, okay? This enclosure's okay. Okay, yeah. With all the cheetahs accounted for, it's now time to help them stretch their legs. We're going to do a couple of laps of each to get them running, then we'll stop and come past again and actually throw some carcasses in there, so you'll get to see their reactions. Okay, so as you're feeding the cats, you're using this as a way to get these cats exercised. Absolutely. Once they're fed, they're going to lay under the tree for two days, basically. So this is their exercise and stimulation. Oh, look at them go. Pretty cool, isn't it? Yeah, doing what cheetahs do best. They're booking it. We're only doing 40 kilometres an hour, and they're just cruising. Wow. The girls are going to stop here, and you see this piece of plywood? Yeah. They're actually going to throw the meat onto that. You're welcome to go in the back if you want and have a go. I'd love that. Thank you so much. Wow, they are beautiful. To see them in real life. So it's feeding time, huh? Yeah, today's feeding time. Okay. Jabal, if you want to show Hazen what you want him to do and where you want him to land the meat, and then he can throw some in as well. Here we go. One, two, heave ho, hefty ho. There you go. One, two, three. Gamma group. Gamma? Yeah, gamma group. Gamma group, okay. How was that, Hazen? I love it. They love it? Thanks, Jabal. Pretty amazing, isn't it? And they're just wolfing it down. But that's what they do in the wild, right? They either have to eat their food fast or the other predators that are more powerful than them will take the ride. Let's go. That looks like a boulder. So we need to get him off because otherwise he's going to get zapped from the electric fence and it's really bad for tortoises because they get stuck. Okay. Okay, let's go. A spurred tortoise, right? Yeah. Wow, big one. Biggest we've got in Africa. Goodness. If you want to get the back, I'll get the front and we'll just try and move it over. How big do these ones get? Oh, I think about 50 kilos. There are hundreds and hundreds of them, particularly when it rains and a bit cooler because we've built in their corridors where they used to migrate, if that's what you want to call it. So now they come to the fences, get stuck on the fences. And what other animals do you have to contend with with the fence? So we obviously have warthogs, baboons. Baboons will get actually in the enclosures and attack the cheetahs. Then it becomes, you know, how baboons go, they're on the outside of the fence. Cheetahs on the inside of the fence taunting each other basically for a few days. And then some things are burrowing under? Yeah, so particularly the warthogs because that's their forte, they'll bury under. And then every other animal like this, porcupines, jackals will go underneath and the hole just gets bigger and bigger. So we're sort of creating the corridors back again. Okay. So you don't mind if the wildlife kind of goes, passes through, just as long as the hole isn't big enough to where the cheetahs can get through. That's right. This is a sanctuary. We're here for all animals, so whatever, we can come in and go safely. That's a good disclaimer. It's clear that Dr. Marker and her team have their work cut out for them here in the Horn of Africa. With an ever-expanding facility to accommodate more and more rescued cheetahs, it's been a busy first day. And I'm looking forward to learning what's next in the cubs' rehabilitation journey. Back at the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Center buildings, Chris tells me there's some big news from Dr. Marker. It's time for the youngest cubs to take the next step in their rehabilitation journey. Hi, Laurie. We're just answering your call. Oh, good. Glad you're here. We're going to go, I think, try to release these guys. I think it's time. You sure? To let them come out and play. They've now at least seen the area. They've gotten to know nobody else is here. Good time of the day. I think we'll get them out when they're all ready. Okay, come on. Come on, Red. Here's the first one. Red one. Anyone else want to come? Green. Come on. There you go. The little green one. Is this Gaia? Here comes Gaia. Ready to go. Just one more. Blue, come on, Blue. Here he comes. They're just sniffing their new surroundings. Amazing. That's great. Gaia just made a kill. The first kill. Look at that. They're right at home. Look at that. Very proud. This is a big milestone for these cats. Once they make it to this age and are able to be out here in this really large enclosure, it's almost smooth sailing from here on out. Eventually, these cubs will mix with the older cubs and move into larger and larger enclosures. The final moves in their rehabilitation. But for the newest cubs, it's just the start of their journey. Dr. Marker takes me to meet them in quarantine. These are the ones that just came in. Oh, okay. So you can see they tied their legs up or they tied them by the neck. But these all had leg wounds from being tied. Getting 10 cats all at once in every single cat needs your care in a different way. What I've learned over my days with Dr. Marker and her team is that to rescue and rehabilitate cubs like these and stop the illegal wildlife trade, you have to fight the battle on multiple fronts. We've got people issues and I said, save the cheetah and the people will all do well. It's a system. You've got to get the bottom right and the bottom is going to be the soils, the grasses, the people who are on the ground and then everything else builds up to this, again, the apex predator. Once you have it, you've got much greater biodiversity as well and it's happening so fast here. You know that the big picture is going to be a multi-year plan and it's neat that you're sticking with it. You've been sticking with it your whole entire life. I don't think you're stopping now. You're not slowing down, that's for sure. Yeah, I thought I would, right? But really, we're struggling. The cheetah is really struggling and so the work that needs to be done has to accelerate. I'd really like to have you take a look at the area that we're hoping to develop next. Large areas where the cats, selected ones, could go back out into. We're calling it our rewilding area. Where we are hoping that we can go to the next phase and that some of these animals can eventually live free and in the wild. Oh, amazing. Yeah, let's go. The road to rewilding cheetahs might be a long one, but it's a worthy goal. And for the Torrenta community, I believe that these cheetahs can be reintroduced to their natural habitat across the Horn of Africa.