An inhumane trade in cheetah cubs that are snatched from their mothers and their natural habitat in Kenya to be sold in Somalia and from there to be transported to private home gardens used as zoos in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
A study by the Conservation Biology Journal reports that this illegal trade has been going on for years, so much so that Kenya is slowly losing its title as the country with the highest number of spotted felines: there are just over a thousand left, compared to about 6,500 on the entire African continent. The reported numbers speak of more than 1880 cases of seizures or attempted sales of cheetahs from 2010 to 2019 alone. Of these, more than 90 per cent were live specimens and 95 per cent were from Kenya.
According to other sources reported in the local media, poachers who hunt cheetah cubs near Kenya's parks and reserves would sell them to Somali merchants for as little as 10 thousand shillings (EUR 80). The smugglers then cross the border between Kenya and Somalia and already have someone waiting for them and, buying the precious cubs at a much higher price, transport them to the Arabian Peninsula, ready to become absurd attractions for the rich locals and often end up in cages for the rest of their lives. The final price per puppy could be around 30,000 euros.
Not to mention, as reported by researchers at Conservation Biology, the survival rates of cheetah cubs are very low, many of them die during the journey due to malnutrition, inadequate care and high levels of stress, confirming beyond all else the cruelty of this clandestine trade that deserves even heavier sanctions than those applied and extended to willing customs officials.
Recently the Indian government had inquired with Kenya about the possibility of legally importing a number of cheetahs from Kenya to repopulate its safari parks and try to increase the population of the feline, which is beginning to be counted among the world's most endangered endangered species.
For now, the agreement between the two countries has not yet been ratified, but it is the opinion of biologists and animal activists that cheetahs, like other species living in the wild in Africa, should remain where they are and simply be more protected and preserved.