A triumph for South African conservation

This article covered the birth of two cheetah cubs in captivity, the first time it had ever taken place in South Africa.

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At last it has happened! Two cheetah cubs have been born in captivity for the first time in South Africa. This ‘happening’ has given terrific impetus to the conservation roller coaster at the High Noon Animal Kingdom in Villiersdorp, Western Cape. The sweet taste of achievement was greatly heightened by the fact that, for many years, people in South Africa have been trying to rear cheetahs in captivity, but without a glimmer of success.

“It was quite beyond my wildest dreams,” says an ecstatic John Spence, chief warden at High Noon, “and we only introduced the 16 cheetahs to the High Noon Animal Kingdom just over a year ago.”

Birthday cards and letters of congratulation have been pouring in from all over the country. As hard as it is to credit, there has been the odd caustic note debunking the whole event as concocted fraud calculated to generate publicity. Spence’s answer to this: “Well, you must appreciate that it is really quite an achievement, but for the non-believers, we hope to be holding a repeat performance fairly shortly.”

WHERE OTHERS HAVE FAILED