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Firstly we meet Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen who decided a few years ago to follow her dreams
and moved to the country with a young cheetah named Fiela, Rozanne went to visit.
Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen who lives just outside of Bloemfontein has from a young age had a love for animals especially cats.
Come! Here is your food
Here she comes, let’s go feed her outside
if you come to visit you will not be met by your typical cat
From a very young age there has always been cats in my life, but I reached a point in life where it wasn’t enough,
I realised I had a bigger desire for wild cats especially cheetahs
She has 3 lions, 4 cheetahs, and 2 wolves that are a part of her extended family
due to circumstances most of the animals are adopted because they would not survive on their own in the wild
for example because of abandonment
Freckles was from a litter of 3 lions, who all got cat flu his 2 siblings died.
Others were already injured when they arrived
Mafusa's leg was broken; he wouldn't survive in the wild
Bibi was born without a tail, her mother immediately discarded her because she wouldn’t survive in the wild
It's not a case of me taking healthy animals from the wild and placing them in captivity
Our aim is to be in the position to one day put Cheetah back into the wild,
but those who have been abandoned are happy with life here
You also have two wolves, how come?
I bought both wolves to keep an eye on all the animals.
Wolves aren't common in South Africa, what type of wolves are they?
They are Canadian wolves; all the animals get on well together
When we first get a new animal they are introduced to all the animals whilst they are still young.
These cheetahs are 16 and 17 yrs old and wild, they have come here to retire, we call it the old age home
She founded the Fiela fund cheetah breeding project in 2006 with the aim to ensure the future of the animals
I did look
Visitors are also welcome, where they can learn about the animals
Their donations help towards the costs of food and medicine
The fund is named after Riana's first Cheetah; Fiela
She bought this abandoned Cheetah in 2006
I had a dream, where I died and I realised that you live only once and should therefore live life without any regrets
Absa bank gave me a loan to buy Fiela and that’s when it all started
Her dream wasn’t an easy one to follow, she had to give up her security to fulfil her life mission
At the time she was an office manager at a family advocate and lived in a townhouse
Each wild animal you own requires a permit
when I applied for Fiela's permit I handed in the form which I had completed very neatly
The lady began to laugh, and I thought what did I write that was so funny?
She said: "no, you cant keep a Cheetah in a town house"
So I asked if I could submit a motivation for a 2 month temporary permit
as in the past I had raised animals at home for the zoo.
After 2 months I would leave the city with Fiela
After pleading Riana got the permit, and quickly became attached to this young cheetah
I had to quit my job, and knew that I could start the project and survive on my pension fund
When a friend allowed her to utilise a portion of his game farm Emoya, the dream become reality
She also had enough room to take on more animals in need
These days volunteers assist with the care of all the animals
They are only 11 weeks old, but already they can finish off chicken completely to the bone
Although she is following her dream, it requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice to look after these animals
often times living is tough
Why do you feed them chicken? Do they ever eat red meat?
If you can get them used to a diet of chicken, it is better as chicken is the cheapest meat,
if we had to buy red meat everyday we wouldn't survive financially
How much does it cost to feed them each month?
It works out to forty rand (US$6) a day, or R1200 (US$180) per month, per Cheetah
He can eat nicely over here
My angel wait your food is in the kitchen
They are so hungry today
To assist with funding, members of the public can donate money to the animal of their choice,
they are then kept up to date with the progress of their adopted animal and are welcome to visit at any time
Another source of income is to nurse sick cubs and look after abandoned animals belonging to game farms.
We look after them until a certain age, when they leave we shed many tears
but not longer afterwards, new youngsters arrive
Your teeth are very sharp!
They are like my children; I don’t have children of my own
She has no favourites, but Cheetahs have a special place in her heart
The four Cheetah sleep in the house on my bed, it’s not an easy task
They sleep on the bed, but I never said anything about me getting any sleep!