Brevard Zoo Announces Arrival of Three New Cheetahs
By Space Coast Daily // July 28, 2015
To be part of main exhibit in August
Bria, Jaina and Yoda arrived at the Zoo last week and they’ll move into the main exhibit sometime in August.
The Cheetah SSP population consisted of 284 animals at 54 AZA institutions as of March 2013.
The target population size is 300 animals. Since 2003 and the opening of Expedition Africa, Brevard Zoo has contributed more than $14,000 to a variety of in-situcheetah conservation projects.
According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) about 10,000 to 12,500 cheetahs are estimated to remain in 24 to 26 African countries and less than 100 animals in Iran.
Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation, conflict between humans and wildlife and the illegal wildlife trade have all contributed to their decline.
With about 3,000 animals, Namibia has the world’s largest number of free ranging cheetah.
Cheetahs were placed on CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) as Appendix I, making international trade in live cheetah or cheetah products illegal in 1975.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated the cheetah as Vulnerable or Endangered in 1970.
