Yorkshire Wildlife Park welcomes four Cheetah cubs as part of European breeding programme

YORKSHIRE WILDLIFE PARK CREDIT
The birth of the cubs is being described as a 'major conservation sucess' Credit: Yorkshire Wildlife Park

A UK wildlife park has welcomed the birth of four cheetahs as part of a European breeding programme.

It's the first time Cheetahs have been born at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster.

The mother, Darcy, gave birth on 13 May having only arrived at the park nine months earlier through the European Endangered Species Programme.

Darcy, who is four-years-old, travelled from Ireland’s Fota Wildlife Park while 14-year-old male Brooke arrived from the Bristol Zoo Project.

The park said rangers introduced the pair gradually and were delighted when Darcy started showing signs of being pregnant.

Mum, Darcy, gave birth nine months after arriving at Yorkshire Wildlife Park Credit: Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Dr Charlotte Macdonald, Director of Animals, said the team is ”incredibly excited" by the new arrivals.

"It happened far sooner than we dared hope," she said.

“It will be a while before the cubs come out in the reserve, but visitors can already see them on a screen at the park via cameras in their house.”

Other than for breeding, Cheetahs are solitary animals so Darcy is now alone with her cubs.

Cheetahs were once one of the most wide-spread carnivores on the planet but now around 7,100 are expected to live in the wild.

The park has become a leading force in animal conservation and has an ever growing big cat population playing host to endangered Amur tigers and lions rescued from the Ukraine.

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