Introducing “Rainbow”
Photo Credit: Eli Walker
Rainbow is one of Cheetah Conservation Fund’s newest cheetahs and we’re happy to announce that Canadians, via Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada, are helping to support her as she grows up.
She’s a beautiful cheetah, healthy and growing, but when she arrived at CCF Namibia, she needed intense care and attention. In February 2013, a farmer called CCF about a very young cheetah cub found by the side of the road. She was in very weak condition, but the CCF team acted quickly, retrieved her from the farmer and took her back to CCF to begin carefully nursing her back to health. Just before the team arrived back at CCF centre, three rainbows appeared in the sky, and there was no doubt about the name of this new cub!
The CCF team knows that the physical health of each cheetah is very important, but so is their mental health. Knowing that Rainbow had faced some real challenges at such an early age, they knew she’d need stimulating play, and to learn the natural skills of the cheetah, chasing and catching. While a young cheetah learns these things from their mother in the wild, the CCF team has tremendous experience in finding ways to replicate this learning.
CCF staff knew there was something important missing for Rainbow – regular contact with another young cheetah. Fortunately, just around the same time, another young cheetah named Aurora arrived at CCF. The two cheetah cubs immediately took to each other and have quickly become inseparable: they now eat together, groom each other, and regularly curl up together.
The dedicated work of the CCF team has made such a difference for Rainbow, and the generosity of Canadians who are donating to Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada through our Canada Project helps to take care of her. We’ll be keeping you up to date on this beautiful cheetah’s progress and how the CCF team continues to care for her.
