Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/puppy-cheetah/

A cheetah cub named Rozi will not be alone anymore at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.

Soon, she will have a companion from the Animal Rescue Fund, Inc. — and that is Daisy, a new puppy!

Cincinnati Zoo’s cheetah ambassadors like Rozi are always paired with dogs as they grow up. And just like the many cheetah-dog pairs before them, Rozi and Daisy will be experiencing the world together, learning from each other, with Daisy helping Rozi to be trained into one of the zoo’s noble cheetah ambassadors.

Why Cincinnati Zoo Pair Their Cheetahs with Dogs

Rozi was adopted by the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden last May, as part of the zoo’s Cat Ambassador Program.

She came from a zoo in Oregon where she was born alone. This means that her mother would not be able to produce enough milk to sustain her, and so she was moved to Cincinnati Zoo to receive the kind of care she needs.

Yes, Cincinnati Zoo’s cheetahs are mostly like Rozi who have been born as single cubs. A female cheetah usually gives birth to six litters and when her babies are only two or one, the mother cannot produce enough milk to support these young ones. Moreover, in cases like this, the mother would usually abandon her single cub to have a chance of mating again and having a larger family.

Cincinnati Zoo has found that dogs are better “surrogate siblings” to lone cheetahs because they can communicate with these cats and play the same way cheetahs do. They learned this from the experience of Cathryn Hilker, who founded the Cat Ambassador Program in 1980.

Cathryn’s first cheetah cub was Angel and it was her Great Dane Dominic who had helped her to raise Angel into an amazing cheetah ambassador. Angel would visit schools with Cathryn where she would educate people about the importance of cheetahs on Earth’s ecosystem and about the plight of these big cats in the modern world.

Since Angel, there have been more cheetah-dog pairing like Sara and Lexi, Tom and Pow Wow, Donni and Moose, and of course, Kris and Remus.

The Significance of Cat Ambassador Program in Saving the Cheetahs

Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden has long been working in partnership with Cheetah Conservation Fund which aims to save cheetahs from extinction, especially now that there are just about 7,100 left of these fastest land animals.

Under CAP, more than 150,000 people are educated every year about cheetahs along with other wild cats and their importance to the planet. CAP also provides an opportunity for people to further appreciate cheetahs through a demonstration of their incredible speed. In 2012, the zoo’s cheetah named Sarah broke all 100-meter times when she accomplished the feat within 5.95 seconds at a speed of 61 miles per hour.

Further, under the Angel Fund, which was founded in Angel’s memory, CAP gathers donations for the cheetah conservation program.

Come 2021, CAP has expanded to welcome many other ambassador animals like African servals, domestic cats and dogs, ocelots, a red river hog, and a crested porcupine.

Watch this video of Rozi when she first arrived at Cincinnati Zoo!

[embedded content]
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog