Smuggling of baby cheetahs

Baby cheetahs are being torn away from their mothers in Kenya and sold in Somalia for just about Sh10,000.

The smugglers then whisk them through dusty roads in Somalia and via small boat to Yemen, from where they are sold to wealthy Arabian buyers for as high as Sh3.8 million a cub.

This is according to a new study, which traces the possible routes the cubs are taken through, under cover of darkness, until they reach their new prison mansions in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Only an estimated 6,500 adult and adolescent cheetahs remain in Africa, inhabiting a mere 13 per cent of their historical range.

Kenya is the main stronghold for the East African cheetah, with the largest population of 800 to 1,200 adults in the country since 2015.

They live primarily outside protected national parks and reserves. Approximately 80 per cent of Kenya’s cheetahs live on public and community land.

The cubs’ survival rates are low and many die from malnutrition, inadequate care and high stress levels, underscoring the cruelty of the trade and its toll on the animals’ health and well-being.

Traffickers, motivated by the high profit margins, are undeterred by the minimal penalties if they are caught.

The study documents an alarming surge in trafficking, with over 1,880 instances of seizures or attempted sales of live cheetahs and parts from 2010 to 2019 alone.

Of these, 91 per cent involved live cheetahs, primarily cubs, with 95 per cent of these originating in the Horn of Africa and destined for pet markets in the Arabian Peninsula.