Three cheetah cubs at Dickerson Park Zoo are being hand raised by zoo staff. The babies, two boys and a girl, were delivered October 1 by cesarean section when they were past due and their mom wasn’t showing any signs of going into labor.
"And, it was a tough decision," said Stephanie Zec, the zoo’s veterinarian, "because, by doing a c-section, we were committing ourselves to hand raising them, but we were worried with her being late term, you know, was she late term because she was running into complications? Was there a reason she wasn't progressing, and, you know, what's going on with her? And so we made the decision together to go forward with the c-section."
The cubs had to be hand raised because, for one thing, their mom was weak from surgery. She might not have recognized them and they wouldn’t have got the nourishment they need. In the worst case scenario, she might have killed them. And bottle feeding the cubs and putting them back on their mom to see if she would care for them is nearly impossible when you’re dealing with a cheetah. Those concerns, plus the fact that the staff couldn’t find a situation where cubs had been reunited with their moms after a c-section, led them to the decision to hand raise them.
"It would seem to be in their best interest as we didn't want to put them at risk," said Zec.
Until just a few days ago, three staff members who took them home to care for them, had to give them bottles every three hours. Now, the cubs are being weaned off milk and are eating baby food. They’ll eventually eat meat.
The babies communicate now with a high-pitched squeak. They’re small and fuzzy, no more than about 13 inches from the tips of their noses to the tips of their tails, but when they’re grown, they will be up to 86 inches.
The animals are endangered in the wild, and Zec said that’s why it’s important to breed them in captivity.
"These births are incredibly important because we are amplifying that genetics, you know, times three and then they will go out. It is our goal that these animals will become true cheetahs and then be able to, you know, someday breed and have more cheetahs," she said.
According to animal caretaker, Sheila Samek, there are currently 360 cheetahs in Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited zoos. Nine of those are at Dickerson Park Zoo.
The AZA determines when and where cheetahs will be bred based on the Species Survival Plan and genetics.
Samek said cheetahs can be sent from one zoo to another in the U.S. for breeding purposes and are sometimes sent even further.
"Eventually, you know, our goal is to get more genetics across the world," said Samek. "I know there is different shipments going on from North America to different places of the world and then eventually help out the wild population."
That’s because cheetahs have been released into sanctuaries in Africa. She said there are about 7,000 in the wild, and it’s hoped that by breeding cheetahs in captivity, that number will increase in the next several years.
It’s not yet known when the cheetah cubs at Dickerson Park Zoo, currently known as babies A, B and C, will be on exhibit.
