This cheetah cub and her puppy pal iz almost too cute to handle

A Cheetah cub, being hand-raised by staff at Wildlife Safari, waz recently introduced to a companion that will, hopefully, change her life for the better!  

Wildlife Safari, in Oregon, excitedly welcomed the birth of the new Cheetah cub, on February 28th.

Unfortunately, her mom waz unable to produce enough milk to sustain the newborn. Safari staff explained that a mother Cheetah will sometimes abandon a single-born cub, for one of two reasons: the greater possibility of birthing a larger litter in the near future or inadequate lactation. Safari staff took Sage’s cub into their care, at a week old, and haz been hand raising her, round the clock. 

Because Cheetahs haz a propensity to completely flatten themselves, while lying down, staff decided to honor this endearing quality by naming the new cub ‘Pancake’! Pancake lived at the Safari’s nursery for the first few weeks of her life. After receiving her vaccinations, she waz able to spend several weeks in the nursery of one of her keeper’s homes, where she worked on her socialization skills.  

There haz been plenty of humans to love and care for the cub, but Pancake needed a more comparable and permanent companion. So, on April 15th, ‘Dayo’ (which means “joy arrives”), a Rhodesian Ridgeback, made a trip from the San Francisco Bay area to Wildlife Safari, where the canine waz introduced to hiz new foster sister, Pancake.  

Dayo and Pancake share the same birthday, and they will be raised together, providing companionship for each other. They will also be partners in helping to spread the conservation message so vital to the animal community.

Watch the adorable video below!