Saved from Illegal Trade, 50 Cheetahs Take New Homes in Somaliland

JAKARTA - More than 50 cheetahs rescued from the illegal wildlife trade have been relocated to a complex in Somaliland, East Africa, amid reports that reveal that global demand for exotic pets remains high.

Two siblings, Cizi and Bagheer, who were brought to the Cheetah Conservation Fund as young were rescued by the Somaliland Government in 2020 and became one of the first to occupy the Somaliland Cheetah Conservation and Rescue Center in Geed-Deeble.

This government project, which is the result of a long-term partnership with the Cheetah Conservation Fund, is one of the first in East Africa.

The siblings have joined 50 other cheetah cubs on the 800-acre site, all of whom were rescued from the illegal pet trade in recent months.

Another 37 cheetahs, rescued from traffickers and currently in a safe house, will join the complex, which also serves as a research and training center, about an hour outside Hargeisa.

"We are very pleased with the results of this transfer," said Dr. Laurie Marker, founder and executive director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

"The cheetah cubs we move stay in their large management cages for a day or two to acclimate to their new area."

"Then their keepers watched with delight as they were released into their spacious enclosure and [they] have acclimatized well," she said.

The cheetah, which is listed as an Appendix 1 species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, is largely taken from the wild in the Horn of Africa to supply the illegal pet trade.

Since 2011, the Cheetah Conservation Fund has been assisting the Government of Somaliland in caring for cheetahs intercepted by traders.

Separately, a recent report from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a non-profit NGO that monitors the flow of funds for terrorism and extremism, found that the illegal wildlife trade is experiencing a post-pandemic resurgence.

The illegal trade in animals and their body parts has grown to an annual value of USD 23 billion, decimating animal populations and driving species such as elephants, rhinos, and cheetahs to extinction.

Meanwhile, CEP's Extinction Inc report shows how poachers and smugglers adapted quickly during the pandemic, exploiting tourist-free national parks while moving marketing and sales online.

The emergence of COVID-19 has crippled national park budgets, limiting the number of rangers on duty to protect wildlife.

In Garamba National Park, an area of ​​5.000 square kilometers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 25 percent of rangers have lost their jobs, a pattern common across Africa.

"Gangs of ivory poachers and porters cross the border with Cameroon, working directly for larger-scale traders," Gabon's Minister of Water, Forests, Oceans, and Environment Lee White told the report's authors.

"A small number of individuals control large trading networks. Some of them provide money to extremist groups," he continued.

It is known that anti-trafficking efforts have been completely overwhelmed by the massive growth in international trade and passenger traffic.

In addition to funding extremism, the illegal shipment of animal products is a major entry point for zoonotic diseases that can jump from animals to humans.

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC), three out of four new or developing infectious diseases are zoonoses.