The United States is another main importer of live cheetahs from South Africa with the main trade purpose being zoos and breeding in captivity.

 

Although many zoos will claim the need for captive breeding of the endangered cheetah for conservation purposes, none of these cheetahs will ever be returned to the wild.

 

Many of the cheetahs exported from South Africa have already been habituated through hand-rearing by paying volunteers and interactive tourism activities. These habituated animals go straight into the “Pay to Play” programmes that numerous zoos in the USA offer.

 

“Pay to Play” is exactly what it implies – paying visitors are allowed to pet and/or walk with these well-behaved “ambassador cheetahs”.