Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has rescued a stray male cheetah from the wrath of an angry mob in Voi sub-county. The wild cat is said to have killed five goats at a farm whose owner laid a trap for it.
The starving cheetah had sneaked into Samuel Maina’s farm at New World area along Nairobi-Mombasa Highway on Friday night. The animal then went on a killing spree where it killed and partially ate three goats. Two others goats were also found dead with bite marks on their necks.
Maina was awoken by one of his herders who informed him that the cheetah had killed a part of his flock. The wild animal got trapped inside the goat enclosure after it was unable to find its way out.
Hundreds of local residents whose livestock have suffered from attacks by lions, leopards and cheetahs in the past turned up armed with all manners of crude weapons.
“I had to prevail upon them not to kill the cheetah. The people are angry over losing dozens of their livestock to wild animals in the past,” he said.
When the crowd became too big, the agitated cheetah started snarling and running around the enclosure in circles, desperately looking for a way out. At one time, the animals attempted to jump over the high wire fence but failed.
KWS rangers arrived later in the afternoon but could not contain the animal until a KWS veterinary specialist arrived in the evening. By this time, the exhausted cheetah was crawling from one spot to another looking for shade and water.