On 16th March 2018, Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC) welcomed a 3-year-old female cheetah through the conservation animal exchange program with Mystic and Feathers facility, South Africa.

The female cheetah is an action to avert possible inbreeding between Pian and Upe, (3.5 years) individuals, that were rescued from Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, Karamoja Sub region).

If UWEC can successfully breed them in captivity, this will be a unique opportunity to increase their numbers, conservation education, behavioral research, and genetic management program.

Cheetahs are Africa’s most threatened big cats with only about 7,100 cheetahs left in the wild.Did you know that cheetahs are now extinct in the Asian range with the exception of about 50 individuals in Iran.

Loss of habitat, decline in prey, poaching, persecution by livestock farmers, and competition with other large predators in protected areas, threaten the survival of the cheetah throughout its range.

With this cheetah exchange, it increases public awareness and survival prospects of the most threatened big cat in Uganda.