Rare adoption case: Cheetah fosters three cubs shortly after giving birth

Cheetah Kate from the Beekse Bergen Safaripark adopted three cubs after their mother, Sara, became unable to care for them due to health problems. Kate herself recently gave birth to three cubs of her own.

Such occurs very seldomly, the Safaripark wrote on Facebook. “That is a really special situation that barely ever happens. Sara was doing great but her health was getting worse. Therefore, she became unable to care for her cubs”, caretaker Mariska Vermij-van Dijk told NU.nl.

Sara gave birth to four cubs, but one of them died shortly after the birth.

In total, Kate now has to care for six cubs: four boys and two girls. The boys’ names are Pikachu, Onix, Jynx and Ajabu while the female cubs are called Nyah and Bomani. “Six cubs are a handful, therefore, we’ll give her some extra food. But otherwise, Kate is caring well for her foster cubs.”

In the wild, there are around seven thousand cheetahs left which makes them an endangered species. They are frequently killed by farmers who see them as a threat to their livestock. It is often also difficult for the cheetah to find prey due to the development of land for agricultural purposes.

Many zoos, including Beekse Bergen, have set up special breeding programs to stabilize the population.