Cheetahs; Why Do We Need To Protect Them?

By Brooke Bradley

    Golden fur, black patches, piercingly cold and acute eyes, a quick and light body, and a kinked tail? The fastest terrestrial mammal alive, the cheetah, is in dire need of help. They may be quick, but their strength is much smaller than their counterparts, like the lion. Given how quickly they move, these animals don't seem to require any protection, but they do. Why do they need it?

    Cheetahs frequently face issues related to the illegal wildlife trade. In just one year up to three hundred cheetah cubs are taken from their mothers and sold. Cheetahs find it challenging to live in captivity and then be sold to a buyer who won't look after them, understand their needs, or later release them in the wild when they are grown and now lack the necessary hunting and self-defense skills. Additionally, due to two bottleneck events, the most recent of which occurred at the end of the Ice Age, they have a narrow gene pool. Also, habitat degradation is a big problem animals must adapt when their habitat is lost, but their lack of diversity could lead to their demise.

    So what can we do to aid them? There's not much we can do, but we can spread the word about wildlife trafficking and donate to organizations like the Cheetah Fund.