FERTILITY tests and phantom pregnancies have plagued the Emdoneni Cheetah Breeding Project in Hluhluwe but finally, ecstatic staff and owners will shortly welcome a new addition to their resident cheetah population.
After Emdoneni’s two male cheetah, Moya and Juba, were officially declared infertile, Louis and Cecilie Nel, owners of the lodge and cat sanctuary, had no choice but to send Autumn, their resident female, to Cheetah Experience in Bloemfontein for a breeding loan.
Autumn arrived in Bloemfontein at the end of October and almost immediately spent time with Mafusa, their resident male.
On 15 February, after showing minimal signs of pregnancy, Autumn gave birth to two cubs, a male and a female.
Cheetah Experience staff had to intervene and bottle feed the newborn cubs, which were initially rejected by Autumn.
However, four days later Autumn gave birth to another cub – a healthy male. Following the birth of the third cub, the first two were reunited with Autumn who immediately accepted them.
As per Emdoneni’s agreement with Cheetah Experience, Autumn will return to Emdoneni with one male cub while the other two cubs will remain in Bloemfontein.
The male to live at Emdoneni has been named Storm and will be used for breeding purposes.
Both Autumn and Storm will be transported to Emdoneni in the next few weeks.
@TamlynJolly
