FOUR NEW FURRY FACES
Baby cheetahs at Parc Safari
Quebec’s cheetah population continues to grow following four births at Parc Safari in Hemmingford on May 3.
The new additions, females Imani and Ilanga and males Bemba and Malik, joined the 13 felines already housed in the park’s Cheetah Research and Reproduction Centre, and will be on public display for the first time on July 21. They were named in honour of the animal’s African heritage.
The Quebec zoo took in eight animals from South Africa in 2013 when it decided to bring the big cats back after their last one died in 2001, said Nathalie Santerre, Parc Safari’s director. Since then, the cheetah centre’s population has more than doubled through a combination of births and animal transfers between centres across North America.
Two cubs, Mosi and Jelanie, joined the zoo’s cheetah coalition a year earlier in May 2017 as the first born in the province, followed by another litter of two in July the same year.
While the first birth at the centre required human intervention, Santerre said Imani, Ilanga, Bemba and Malik’s births were completely natural — something zoo staff are feeling especially proud about.
With a dwindling worldwide population year after year, each new litter of cheetahs is “very, very important,” Santerre said.
According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the number of cheetahs in the wild around the world has decreased from 100,000 in 1990 to fewer than 20,000 in 2016.
“It’s very important to keep a healthy population in captivity, so maybe one day we’ll be able to reintroduce (cheetahs) into the wild.”
Santerre said it’s challenging to breed cheetahs, partially due to a lack of genetic diversity in the species, low fertility rates in males, and the invasive nature of artificial insemination, which requires surgery. Of more than 30 North American centres involved in the Species Survival Program, she said, only 16 have been successful in breeding the animals.
“Most facilities are not able to have healthy litters or natural breeding,” Santerre said. “You can have as many cheetahs as you want, it doesn’t mean they will actually breed.”
As a result, “(Parc Safari’s) four new cubs are actually very important for North America.”
Santerre said that once the cubs have matured, after a year to 18 months, they’ll probably be transferred to other centres where a new bloodline is needed.