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U.S. Takes Custody of Abused Cheetahs
Restaurant Owner in Ethiopia Kept Cubs to Amuse Customers
ADDIS
ABABA, Ethiopia Nov.05 – Two cheetah cubs held captive and abused at a
remote village restaurant in eastern Ethiopia are now in the custody of
a government veterinarian and U.S. troops, a senior official said
Monday.
Government vet, Fekadu Shiferaw, confiscated the 3-month-old
cheetahs on Sunday from a restaurant owner in Gode, where they were
being forced to fight each other for the amusement of children.
He
gave them to U.S. troops for safekeeping until they can be flown to
Addis Ababa, about 700 miles west of Gode, said Kifle Argaw, the
government’s senior wildlife vet.
“They are in the custody of the
authorities and will receive medical treatment,” Kifle said. “The U.S
military have also agreed to divert a plane to Addis Ababa on Tuesday
so we can bring the cheetahs and the vet to the capital.”
The
soldiers, part of the U.S. counterterrorism task force for the Horn of
Africa, were in the region carrying out humanitarian work when they
came across the cheetahs and alerted the government.
Mohamed Hudle,
the restaurant’s owner, said he bought the cubs from poachers and does
not know what happened to their mother. The poachers had kicked the
female cub in the face, blinding the animal, he said.
Keeping wild
animals is illegal without a special license, but Ethiopia’s wildlife
laws are rarely enforced. Mohamed also has a hawk with a broken wing
and three scrawny baby ostriches.
Kifle said that the government is also planning to confiscate the ostriches and hawk.
The
cheetah is endangered worldwide, in large part because of loss of
habitat and poaching, according to the Cincinnati-based Cheetah
Conservation Fund.
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