Miracle On Running Wild Conservation Street thanks to RWC staff. Three healthy cheetah cubs born. One female, two males. Happened 17 May 2024 after 9 hours of pre and active labor. Working on a video of the event and special offer to future volunteers. Mom was SO tired, but recovered with very active hungry cubs; nursing. Look at BOTH photos posted here of mom and the cubs.
13 days ago (edited) • Dolph C. Volker
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2 years ago • Dolph C. Volker
Gabriel The Cheetah's 8th Birthday 18 AUG 2021 | Moves To A New & Camp at New Breeding Project To Become A Breeder
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2 years ago (edited) • Dolph C. Volker
IT's TIME! Live Recorded Reunion With Gabriel After 2.5 Years! On My Channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1qxi... This is a capture of Gabriel and my 8th reunion after 2.5 years. Was unable to record it LIVE but will post the entire video when get the time to gather and compile it. I am sorry I could not make my reunion with Gabriel "LIVE" due to technical difficulties, but I will attempt another LIVE recording of our encounters soon. I made it to Gabriel but due to the remote location, the cell service chip I bought did not reach his camp and could not connect... so I DID have my reunion with Gabriel and it was as predicted! Will post it on YT when I return from SA. --===** A updated pic of Gabriel & me the moment we reunited after 2 & 1/2 years **====-
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2 years ago (edited) • Dolph C. Volker
I am sorry I could not make my reunion with Gabriel "LIVE" due to technical difficulties, but I will attempt another LIVE recording of our encounters soon. I made it to Gabriel but due to the remote location, the cell service chip I bought did not reach his camp and could not connect... so I DID have my reunion with Gabriel and it was as predicted! Will post it on YT when I return from SA. I will try again with another SIM, 4pm GMT+2 daily until I make it happen. --===** The updated pic of Gabriel and me on this post is the moment we reunited after 25 years **====- Gabriel The Cheetah is looking at you and wondering if you will be watching my 1st "LIVE!" reunion with him this Saturday. PASSED MY COVD-19 TEST! YAY! I'm heading to SA after 2 years being grounded! I'll try again to have our reunion this coming Saturday 12 June 2021 with Gabriel on YouTube. I may change it to the 13th depending on arrival time. It will also be posted 'Recorded LIVE' on my YT channel for those who miss it. The time zone will be GMT+2 in South Africa. My last reunion with Gabe was canceled because of positive Covid test 😡. The folks who follow me carefully will get the chance to see it LIVE! 100% unscripted and an over TWO year reunion. I have not seen Gabriel for that long. I have some clue how it will proceed as Gabriel should remember our friendship but I will be nervous. Gabriel moved to a new project location along with all the other cheetahs recently, and has nice new camp. I'll answer some common questions about Gabriel and cheetahs in general while he visits me. He will probably sit like he is in this photo, purr heavily and groom me until finished. I have a special announcement about Gabriel and our plans for his future. If the video runs long, I'll end it and let Gabe finish his reunion with me off camera. Or I might let the cameras roll. Not everyone wants to see a cheetah groom someone for 15 minutes 😳. Sometimes it's only about 5 😀, but this is how a cheetah reunites...
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3 years ago (edited) • Dolph C. Volker
*** CANCELED DUE TO COVID*** I tested positive for Covid-19 and am not allowed to travel to South Africa now. Sorry but my reunion with Gabriel will have to wait... Was feeling fine and only reason for taking the test was it was required. What a bummer!😣 Could be a false positive like many tests are but ran out of time to re-test due to this 3-day window SA has in place. Remember Eon Musk getting 2 positives and 2 negatives! Been a LONG.... Time since I've posted to our Community! But here it is. Career and Covid restrictions have not been kind to my Cheetah Efforts but moving back in full swing! How about my first "LIVE" video here on YT next week (Dec 16 or 17 2020) and my two year reunion with Gabriel? The time zone will be GMT+2 in South Africa. I'll make a comment in this post to update the exact day and time. It will also be posted 'recorded LIVE' on my YT channel for those who miss it. The folks who follow me carefully will get the chance to see it LIVE! It will be WAY better than SNL because it will be 100% unscripted, LIVE, and a true TWO year reunion. I have not seen Gabriel for that long. I have no clue how it will proceed and know I'll be nervous but doing it. Gabriel moved to a new project location along with all the other cheetahs recently, so has a new camp. I have a special announcement about Gabriel and our plans for his future and mine.
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5 years ago (edited) • Dolph C. Volker
Lion Enrichment | Building A Platform Inside An Enclosure WITH LIONS LYING AROUND!!! -=The Running Wild Cheetah Conservation Project=- YT Video HERE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCVt_... Sorry for not posting something lately on my YT channel. I've posted a few short clips on my FB Page ( https://www.facebook.com/The-Cheetah-Whisperer-200126363927484/) But have not had the time and resources to make a nice YT video. I like to make quality posts on YT and cannot at the moment as I am in some life's transitions. But SOON... I promise. I spent some time volunteering at Running Wild Cheetah Conservation (RWC) and helped their team sponsor and upgrade a platform for their rescued lions. The three lions were rescued from a canned hunting operation, but I don't know the details. RWC is granting these lions a forever home and possibly a controlled release in a reserve one day. That is their goal. No breeding will occur. The female has already been spayed. I met the lions years ago when they were just 5 months old and cuddly and cute. Then again about a year later and again when they were two. They certainly don't remember me but with the guidance and confidence of the RWC team, I braved my apprehension to help clean up the lion enclosure and build this platform WHILE THEY WERE LOOSE INSIDE! I would choose to face a 1000 wild adult cheetahs over a single adult lion any day. I'm a Cheetah Whisperer... not a lion one ;) You see they loved it... In the coming video, I'll show how we built the platform inside while the lions watched and how and why they were so calm about it.
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5 years ago (edited) • Dolph C. Volker
Faith... The Totally Relaxed Comforted Living Cheetah Blanket. Soon I hope to post the video of my nights spent inside Faith's enclosure and talk more about her. Faith is one of the cheetahs I've known (off and on) since she was a cub. She's five years old in this photo. I've built up a special relationship with her over these years. She remembers and comes to me day or night for attention, company, rubbing and a scratching. Faith is a severely physically handicapped cheetah due to having sterile meningitis when she was just weeks old. She almost died. It affected her skeletal and tissue growth resulting in her handicaps. She is a bit crosseyed, walks stiff, runs a bit awkward, has some gastric issues, curly tail, and has difficulty getting up and laying down... she manages but usually just flops down. Being an animal that doesn't comprehend the difference, she acts just like a cheetah anyway. Purrs, grooms, plays, runs, chases, gets affectionate, gets upset, and has the whole gamut of emotions and behaviors of a cheetah. She can never be released and is cared for as a favorite at Cheetah Experience. Starting very early in her life as a vulnerable and sick cub, staff and volunteers would babysit her; spending days and nights watching over her. She and her old friend Eden would spend nights with the volunteers. After 5 years, Faith still loves spending nights with volunteers, even though she doesn't need watching over any more. Since I have known Faith for so long, I have special permission to continue spending nights with Faith when volunteering and interning at CE. What is cool to me is that Faith comes to ME to spend the night rather than the other way around. This brick house you see is open on one side with a door to her large enclosure. Faith sleeps outside much of the time and when she hears me setting up the bedding, she comes purring inside and flops on me to snuggle for the night. It is an incredible and warm feeling (literally). This was recorded during winter with -freezing temps and Faith shares her warmth with me. Cheetahs have an average temp ranging from 100-103deg Fahrenheit or 39.4 Celsius! We humans are only 98.6F. Faith becomes my purring living hot water bottle cheetah blanket for the night. Just incredible. I discovered Faith loves her neck massaged and I used that to completely relax her! I rub, scratch, pinch, pull, and massage Faith's muscles, skin, and fur on the back of her neck while she melts in my arms. The video is amazing, even for me. It is a known stimulus relaxant to scruff the back of a cats neck. Nerve endings send signals to the brain to tell the body to relax. Mom will carry cubs using this scruff technique when carrying them to safer locations. You don't want struggling cubs when mom is carrying them so the scruffing relaxes them. Both males and females have this affect and males will innately bite the back of a female cats neck during mating. Same effect. Calming the female. It is why you see many cats with extra fur on the back of their neck... it absorbs the bite pressure from mom or male cats. It also works for veterinarians who have uncooperative house cats to examine. They place a clamp on the back of the neck and it instantly calms them.
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6 years ago (edited) • Dolph C. Volker
This is James the cheetah, a breeding male at Cheetah Experience, closing his eyes and rubbing his cheeks and head against my face. He's about 7-8 yrs old here. When I have some time, I'll post a nice video of the "JAMES BONDING" I like calling it and the bonding ritual of male cheetahs (at least with humans). I still need to witness the ritual between true wild male coalition cheetahs to see what they do. I met James 4 yrs ago but never got to know him. He was off limits to volunteers and I just fed him occasionally (through the fence). Subsequent volunteering and interning over the past four yrs, I visited James only a couple of times, so I never got to know him. Instead I know OF him... a very nice calm friendly cheetah that loves the girls but they don't like him and loves human interaction and attention. He's mated twice but never produced cubs. He may be sterile. So this past Jan 2018, while interning and bonding with Gabriel (whom I legally own) I was allowed to share time with James. I was thrilled and so was he. Amazingly, just after two visits, he learned he could trust me, relax, and be himself. James is like many other male tamed cheetahs that like people. He purrs, gets very close, rubs, grooms, and shares time and space with you. We had several bonding rituals like the one in this photo. I learned something as well... the ear positions of a friendly cheetah that is approaching you. I plan on posting the video and showing how several friendly cheetahs position their ears a certain way when approaching with friendly intent. They also walk a certain way and speed and of course purr. The position of a cheetahs ears is very important in expressing their mood. I think some of it is involuntary and a direct link to their emotions. Basically when a cheetah has friendly intentions, they hide their ears from frontal sight but not in the typical aggressive angry downward position... they are lowered and twisted backward; not folded. It's harder to describe than showing you. Wait for the video. I'll also discuss about the scent glands on their chin, lips, cheeks, and head and why they rub against your cheeks, head and body.
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6 years ago • Dolph C. Volker
Kenji the male African cheetah. The most clever and intelligent cheetah I have come across so far. To cure boredom, he'd take things from inside a room in the house and bring outside; things not tied down; one at a time. He'd empty the next room after that. He's about 3.5 yrs old now and part of the breeding project with his own enclosure.
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