Cheetah operators on hold
The decision to suspend Kwa-Cheetah follows the recent incidents of cheetahs attacking at least three people within the last three months.
EZEMVELO KZN Wildlife (Ezemvelo) has suspended the commercial exhibition at KwaCheetah.
KwaCheetah operates from within Nambithi Game Reserve situated outside Ladysmith.
The decision to suspend Kwa-Cheetah follows the recent incidents of cheetahs attacking at least three people within the last three months.
The first incident, that Ezemvelo became aware of, happened on 28 June.
The last two incidents happened on 5 and 6 August.
The cheetah involved in all these incidents will not be destroyed.
The investigation is still ongoing and the cheetah has not shown any form of aggression during the investigation.
Ezemvelo instituted an investigation on Wednesday, 12 August to determine how these attacks happened and if KwaCheetah was conducting its activities according to the Management Plan that they had submitted to Ezemvelo when they applied for a Keep in Captivity permit.
During the investigation, Ezemvelo discovered that KwaCheetah was already conducting certain activities, which are still being considered, whilst other activities are not in line with their Management Plan.
The activities that are not in line with the submitted Management Plan have resulted in the extensive consultation and lengthy review of the proposed Management Plan.
Co-operation
KwaCheetah has amenably welcomed the decision and has further ceased all commercial exhibitions until Ezemvelo has decided on the status of their Management Plan.
