TYLER, Texas — The Caldwell Zoo celebrated a major milestone in their efforts to conserve endangered species.
Two male cheetahs, Ichabod and Lee, were successfully flown to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in New South Wales, Australia to become potential mates as part of a collaborative breeding program that began in 2018 before being halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials with the Caldwell Zoo said they arrived Sunday, marking a critical milestone towards global efforts to preserve cheetah populations.
"It was very difficult for them to let those let those cats go, but they know overall, it's going to be for the betterment of the species," Jesse Santee, a mammals keeper at Caldwell Zoo, said. "And we were just so proud of everything we accomplished. And we're just proud to do it."
Ichabod and Lee were born during the pandemic to parents Mary Jo and Satan, now affectionally referred to as "Stan," as part of the Caldwell Zoo's breeding program to ensure the long-term survival of the species. Santee said there is close to 7000 cheetahs left in the wild.
"They face several struggles, including human encroachment, cub trafficking, poaching and even the fact that they have a lot of genetic bottlenecking that causes them lots of negative things that come out of their breeding, like mutations and stuff that kind of set them back," Santee said. "They're one of the smaller big cats if you will, and they're not really good at holding on to their prey."
Taronga Western Plains Zoo will now work towards integrating the two cheetahs into their own breeding program as part of a collaborative effort between the two zoos. The Caldwell Zoo said that maintaining genetic diversity is integral to successful breeding, and that the introduction of the two cubs to Taronga Western Plains Zoo helps to facilitate healthy diversity between potential mates.
"What we're doing in zoos now is going to help keep cheetahs around for everyone to see going forward because the population in the wild is struggling overall," Santee said.