Staff at Wildlife Safari in Oregon have stepped in to care for a newborn Cheetah who was rejected by his mother. On May 3, first-time Cheetah mom Moyo stopped eating, which alerted keepers that a birth was imminent. Keepers attentively monitored the birth on surveillance cameras, and became concerned for the wellbeing of the cub when mom ignored him, and did not attempt to clean off the birth sack. 

Newborns can only survive minutes without being removed from the sack and cleaned, so staff quickly stepped in to save the cub's life. They removed the sack, cleaned the airway and stimulated the cub to take his first breath. Since the mother would not care for the newborn, he was rushed to an incubator inside Wildlife Safari's animal hospital.

Photo credit: Wildlife Safari 

The newborn is doing well: he's taking his bottle, putting on weight, and has already won the hearts of staff. He is the 174th Cheetah cub to be born at the park through the internationally recognized Cheetah breeding program. 

"Given this rare opportunity to hand raise the cub, he will soon become an ambassador for his species at another AZA accredited facility" said Carnivore Supervisor Sarah Roy.