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Cheetahs can run a staggering 75 mph, but that’s not fast enough to escape their captors. Each year, animal traffickers in Africa kidnap an estimated 100 cheetahs to supply the exotic pet trade in the Middle East, where big cats are status symbols.

Kuwait City (photo: www.ar15.com)

Doha, Qatar

Most captive cheetahs were stolen from their mothers as cubs, who are easier to handle. This cheetah, being kept as a pet in Tanzania, was rescued by government authorities.

Captive cheetah in Tanzania rescued by authorities (photo: Rosa Mosha)

Cheetahs are an endangered species; fewer than 10,000 remain in Africa — down from 100,000 in 1900. Kidnapping isn’t the only culprit. Their numbers are also declining due to habitat destruction, the construction of fences that block hunting routes and a diminishing number of prey.

Historic & current cheetah range

Capturing wild cheetahs isn’t just bad for conservation; it’s also bad for the cheetahs, who suffer in captivity. No palace in the Middle East can replicate their natural habitat, where they live amongst members of their own species, hunt, raise their young and run faster than the speed limit:

https://youtu.be/LikRHXi7CpI

As part of its “Global Campaign to Keep Cheetahs off Chains,” Born Free USA, which estimates that 70% of smuggled cheetahs die in transit, is calling on members of the CITES treaty to increase enforcement at borders and strengthen the laws. CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

To learn more about the plight of exotic animals held captive as pets and to find out how you can help, please visit Born Free USA.

Ringling Bros. has gone to court requesting that three animal rights groups that unsuccessfully sued them should pay the $25 million in legal fees the company alleges to have spent defending themselves. According to the National Law Journal, “the fee request is one of the largest ever” in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. Lawyers for the Fund for Animals, Animal Welfare Trust and Born Free USA “accused Feld’s legal team of inflating bills, failing to ‘exercise sound billing judgment,’ and overstaffing.”

Ringling Bros

Through the use of weapons, Ringling Bros. terrifies wild animals into submission; we cannot allow them to use lawsuits and other forms of intimidation to scare us too. If litigation against the circus isn’t successful, then we must continue to push for legislation that would ban the use of wild animals in circuses to and to protest them at every stop, educating customers about why using animals in circuses is inhumane On March 21st, One Green Planet published an article on 5 ways you can help end the use of animals in circuses.