In Somaliland and Kenya, efforts are underway to protect wild cheetahs and prevent smugglers from shipping them to the Arabian Peninsula for sale as pets.
The Coast Guard Patrol is preparing to leave towns such as Lugaye along the 800-kilometer coastline of Somaliland. They are the backbone of protecting cheetahs, stopping cheetah smuggling (and smuggling of people, weapons, and gems), and illegal fishing, but they lack funding. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
Written by RACHAEL BALE
In 2013, Shukri Haji Ismail Mohamoud became Minister of Environment and Rural Development in Somaliland. During her first week on the job, she learned that five cheetah pups had died in the department building. The police and department staff confiscated the little guys from a smuggler, but no one in Somaliland knew the expertise to take care of them, so they were eventually sent to the government office in the capital, Hargeisa.
Recently, she told us: "I don't know what's going on. Subsequently, law enforcement rescued 6 more cubs and brought them with them.
Why do people catch cheetahs? She remembered asking employees, "they said, because they were going to sell." Sell! They are not goats, not sheep, not camels. Why do people sell cheetahs? ”
At the Mebae Community Conservation Centre in northern Kenya, Leah and Deniel Lentaam are herding goats to prevent them from being harmed by predators such as cheetahs. In addition to illegally trafficking in pups, cheetahs also face threats such as conflict with humans: cheetahs who kill livestock may be retaliated against. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
Mohamoud learned that herders would sell the cheetah cubs to smugglers, who in turn transported them from Somaliland in the Horn of East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula for sale as pets. "Ah, that's illegal," she said, "and they say, nobody knows that." ”
In Mebae, Nailepu Leparselu gives his child goat milk for breakfast. Generations of herders have been feeding on goat's milk, which is why they fear goats being eaten by cheetahs. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
In March 2021, while Sailepi Leodi was herding sheep, the cheetah attacked the sheep, killing four sheep, although he had done his best to scare the cheetah away. "Now I'm not allowed to herd sheep anymore. [The family] doesn't trust me," he promised next time he would fight back with a spear. Elders in the community urge people to exercise more restraint as communities struggle to find a balance between their own survival and larger ecological goals. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
So she began drafting a bill to amend previously little-known laws; in 2016, Somaliland's Forestry and Wildlife Protection Act came into force. The bill includes a range of environmental protection measures, the most prominent of which is the ban on the capture of wild animals. Selling wild animals for profit is punishable by at least one year in prison and a fine of 3 million Somaliland shillings (about $5,200).
Cosmas Wambua, Timothy Maivo and Learkeri Joseph (from left to right) are staff members of the Kenyan Cheetah Action Group, who collect cheetah feces in Mebae. Fecal analysis can provide information on health, diet and genetics and is essential to understand the status of local cheetah populations. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
Today, with fewer than 7,000 adult wild cheetahs, mostly living in southern and eastern Africa, and the number of cheetahs sold in captivity each year is unknown, Mohamoud has become a driving force behind the conservation of cheetahs in Somaliland. In 1991, Somaliland declared its independence in the civil war, but in the international community, Somaliland has not yet been officially recognized for its southern "neighbor", Somalia. Nevertheless, Somaliland has a relatively stable democratic regime with its own president, ministries, parliament, court system and army.
In a September 2021 National Geographic feature on cheetah poaching, the authors wrote that, driven by Mohamoud, Somaliland is more enthusiastic about dealing with cheetah smuggling than in many more resource-rich places to deal with a variety of wildlife crimes.
"Safety of Wildlife"
Somaliland is still struggling to develop and strengthen civil institutions, and legal concepts against wildlife crime are relatively new. The Office of the Attorney-General, which is responsible for prosecuting such crimes, is constantly being improved.
Mohamoud carries a pocket-sized copy of the 2016 law, and when she meets people who haven't heard of it, she shows them. Somaliland's low internet penetration, poor road access and lack of direct access to international assistance in infrastructure development have made it difficult to disseminate wildlife-related laws.
Nevertheless, thanks to her efforts, law enforcement in Somaliland began to pay attention to the matter. She works closely with the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the police and coast guard, and the Ministry of Defense, which oversees the military, to combat wildlife smuggling. Her department also provides support to the Attorney General's Office.
Mowliid Cabdi Muuse, deputy attorney general and head of the Hargeisa regional prosecution office, said he could recall at least five cases of cheetah smuggling since the environmental law came into effect in 2016. His office now has a prosecutor specializing in environmental crimes, and he has been broadening his expertise in such cases. The next step, Muuse said, is to train judges who aren't necessarily well-versed in the law and wildlife smuggling cases.
But before a case can go to trial, law enforcement needs to discover the crime.
The 18th Battalion in Somaliland specializes in combating smuggling, patrolling smuggling routes and hubs along distant shores. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
"We are doing our best to provide safety and security for wildlife," home affairs minister Maxamed Kaahin Axmed said. However, he acknowledged that the challenges were also daunting: the need to monitor Somaliland's long coastline, the lack of funding and equipment for law enforcement, and limited resources to cover everything from wildlife smuggling and terrorism to illegal fishing.
The army now has a special unit: the 18th Battalion, which deals with all kinds of smuggling. The team, stationed in the coastal town of Lugaye, a well-known transshipment point for smuggled goods, patrolled all night and set up search nets to catch suspicious smugglers and check whether vehicles were smuggling.
18th Battalion Commander Col. Most importantly, Baashe Maxamed Guul said, they met community members and wanted to build trust and have a conversation about the security implications of smuggling. Through this type of social investment, teams can develop their own information networks, share knowledge, and help stop smuggling.
People working to end cheetah smuggling often refer to two words: community engagement and "sensitization." For Mohamoud, it's simple, and she tells everyone she meets that capturing wildlife is illegal. In Guul's view, this means helping communities understand that law enforcement plays an important role in safeguarding security in Somaliland.
Others, including Axmed Cabdullaxi Fadan, deputy police commander in the Cyril region, stressed responsibility. "Local citizens born in Somaliland have a responsibility to protect their land," he said.
School education
The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is a Namibia-based non-profit organization that operates safe houses in Somaliland and cares for rescued cubs. CCF introduced a children's education program in Hargeisa.
In November 2020, Kaita Ivan, CCF's head of education and cheetah caretaker, organized an interactive conversation with toy microphones for primary school-age children at the Islamic College in the UK. He projected the picture of a cheetah eating a goat on the wall. What would you do if you saw a scene like this? he asked.
The Kenya Cheetah Action Team is preparing to organize a workshop for rangers to identify livestock attacks. If rangers can identify predators as lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs, or other animals, they can adopt more specific strategies to protect against future attacks. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
"Kill it!" A boy said excitedly. Livestock are the cornerstones of Somali culture, and (with the exception of remittances from somalilanders living abroad) goats, sheep and camels are the backbone of the economy. A threat to herds means a threat to livelihoods.
"These reactions are very common and to be expected," Ivan said, but "it gives me the opportunity to respond to them." ”
Clashes between cheetahs and herders are one of the biggest threats to cheetah survival. Sometimes, it also becomes an incentive for herders to sell cheetah cubs to smugglers: after a cheetah kills a goat, the herders know he can find the cubs and sell them to the smugglers to make up for the loss.
In Mebae, solar lanterns illuminate the surroundings of the village. Lights can protect livestock and drive away predators. While cheetahs are more likely to hunt during the day, lions and leopards move at night, reducing herders' tolerance for all predators. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
After an hour of interacting with Ivan, the children learned how to distinguish between cheetahs and other feral cats, learning about the role of cheetahs in keeping animal and human ecosystems healthy. They understood that cheetah pups rescued from the illegal trade had to spend the rest of their lives in captivity because they had never learned how to hunt. It's like an unprovoked prison sentence, Ivan said.
When he asked the children, "How will you save the cheetah?" They shouted "Spread the awareness of protection!" "Don't kill them!"
Supports coexistence
The same clashes have taken place in northern Kenya: cheetahs kill livestock, and herders kill cheetahs.
The nonprofit Action for Cheetahs in Kenya studies and collects data on cheetah populations to inform conservation programs. They developed strategies to help livestock owners protect their herds and reduce clashes with predators, and now they've left those strategies to rangers.
Lentaam Chris and other Kenya Cheetah Operations field staff monitor the belt four times a month to understand the number and density of individual species. The group's research brings information about the health of cheetah populations and helps conservationists develop strategies to address existential threats to cheetahs. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
"The idea is to share our lessons with others and help them assist other communities in resolving conflicts with predators," said Cosmas Wambua, the group's assistant director, "to avoid losses first," whether lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs, or jackals, "to raise tolerance for predators, including cheetahs."
It is unclear how many cheetah pups come from Kenya during the illegal wildlife trade, nor is it known whether any cubs in Kenya have been killed as adult cheetahs attack livestock. "In my opinion, the conflict between humans and cheetahs is not linked to the illegal trade in cheetah pups," Wambua said, despite reports in Somaliland that cheetah pups were smuggled from Kenya.
Somaliland Coast Guard members spent the night in the small town of Serra on an island near the Sakadadiin Archipelago, with lights from neighboring Djibouti in the distance. At high tide in the early morning, they patrol the water to stop illegal fishing and smuggling. Photo by NICHOLE SOBECKI
Cabdi Xayawaan, a notorious cheetah smuggler in Somaliland, has boasted to hired drivers that he can get cheetah pups from Kenya, Ethiopia and Somaliland.
From ivory to pangolin scales, as with any wildlife smuggling, poverty, greed and corruption are intertwined behind the illegal trade in cheetah pups. Mohamoud, Somaliland's environment minister, said that in order to protect cheetahs, both countries where wild cheetahs live and countries that buy cheetahs as pets must take measures. If the natural world and human development are not reconciled, she said, then we will be in danger.