Pippa:

From Fodors.com today:

Date: 11/30/2006, 07:43 am
... with regards to the cheetah hug, a poster here, Joyce, told me a few days ago that she was initially told that KWS no longer allowed the petting of the cheetahs. However, another KWS volunteer let them in... she'll no doubt post a trip report and you cna ask her yourself for the full story. Serah had never sent anyone to do the "cheetah hug" before, so she sent someone out to there and he/she was told by KWS that it had definitely been discontinued now..... it was left up to individual KWS volunteers to say yes or no before, but apparently KWS decided to give them more time to do their work by issuing an edict.

Keep fingers crossed!

jan

thanks for keeping me in!
i've red the comments on fodor's!

i would never ever be fond of breeding cheetahs for the public in order to hug them.

the cheetah cubs at spiers (you can watch them at my website) were found abandoned and brought up by humans and therefore cannot rehabilitated to the wild because of very close interaction with humans. therefore they are completely tame and act as "ambassadors" for the de wildt foundation in south africa! these cheetahs are used to get children aware of the endangered cheetah and what needs to be done in order to save them for future generations.

in view to the cheetahs at the NNP/nature walk and orphanage: they are also tame because they were brought to the facilities as prphaned cubs years ago and are quite used to humans means tame!

if such cheetahs are allowed to be fotographed rather than hugged it might provide further revenue for the facility itself and in the end the cheetahs profit from it.

furthermore it shows the locals that cheetahs are not beasts which have to be killed whenever they are in sight!
and furthermore make them aware of the danger of losing these graciuos animals once and forever if nohting will be done to save them.

when it comes to the enclosure-problem at the animal orphanage: in my view not the hugging is the problem but the enclosure itself and how the cheetahs have to live there!

pippa

Jan.... watching you watching me..... no doubt among others.

Pippa.... I posted the comment Jan posted (and have since been "reassured" by someone else that a 'chetah hug' is still possible if you have the "connections - presumably meaning they are not going to be moved?? I read your post on this half an hour ago. Did you ask the KWS staff why this happens? It seems ridiculous that these three cheetahs would be kept so badly given that they are the ones in the public eye. Some PR!

I'm nonplussed by this... they really actually live in that cage permanently, as opposed to being brought into there only for a certain part of the day? I know people can be cruel and people can be stupid... but both together.. and KWS?

I hope you don't mind that I put the information in your post on the same message thread where I posted the above information. If you do, please let me know and I'll tell the Fodor's moderator and try to get the thread removed - or do do yourself.

Pippa.. I meant the information in your original post.... you posted while I was registering.

Original von kimburu
Pippa.. I meant the information in your original post.... you posted while I was registering.

kimburu,
thanks for the explanation!

showing the 3 cheetahs off cannot be the only reason because the 2 cheetahs kept in a much better enclosure at the "nature walk" are also there for hugging or at least "visiting".

of course i have contacted kws by email as soon as i got back to germany but did not get any response at all!

the whole of the "animal orphanage" should be closed as far as i am concerned because all the animals are having a miserable life there!
the animals at the orphanage would be much better off if there were allowed to live at the nature walk.
i have no clue why kws allows the orphanage alltogether as nature walk is just in the neighborhood and space shouldn't be a problem at all!
pippa

kimburu:

Glad to see you found this site and are jumping in with us. The people participating on this site are deeply into protection for wildlife and environment in East Africa, and we all learn from one another. We welcome your participation and hope you'll become a regular.

Both Pippa and I have been trying to get better living arrangements for the animals at the "animal orphange" as Pippa explained. We can only hope that the welfare of the animal takes precedence over the money they make.