Cheetahs amid poverty in Ethiopia

While their condition now in an L-shaped stone cage is not perfect, they’re showing signs of improvement, said Kora Tulu, manager of a zoo that has existed for years on the palace grounds. He is giving medical treatment to the cheetahs, one of which was blinded in an eye by abuse.

The cubs’ plight and rescue generated international attention and offers of help from animal conservation groups around the world. The cheetahs also provided a window to a larger problem of poaching and of wildlife laws that are routinely broken in the hope of making profit, in one of the world’s poorest countries. ‘‘There’s a real lack of awareness in Ethiopia on the treatment of animals,’’ said Tulu, holding the female cub and combing her ragged fur.

‘‘Because of the poor financial situation, Ethiopians give priority to their basic needs, selling an animal’s skin or hunting them for money. We don’t view the wildlife as national gifts…’’ This Horn of Africa was once home to some of the continent’s largest populations of elephants, black rhinos and giraffes. But starting in ancient times, its wildlife population has been depleted for commercial gain. Today the country’s 10 national parks are physically beautiful, yet largely barren of the elephant or rhino populations seen in neighboring Kenya and countries in southern Africa, which have sought to preserve their wildlife to draw tourists.

Ethiopia’s parks do retain some endemic animals—16 species of birds, for instance, the walia ibex goat, several rare frog species and the gelada, or red-heart baboons. There is valuable herbal plant life as well, such as St John’s Wort, used to treat depression. Ethiopia’s bush is home to more than 600 species of flora, including the ivory-colored Abyssinian rose, that Ethiopians use as traditional remedies for malaria and other ills.

But with the country’s human population exploding—it has quadrupled to more than 74 million in the last 65 years—government officials are concerned that what is left of Ethiopia’s flora and fauna will be depleted.

Many Ethiopians found the recent attention paid to the cheetah cubs ridiculous when this country is struggling with poverty, nearly a million people rely on food aid and a disputed election resulted in violence and thousands of political arrests. ‘‘It’s difficult to garner support for some animals when the country has a history of famine and drought,’’ said Abayneh Telake, mayor of Gondor, 40 miles south of the Simien Mountains. ‘‘When we heard about this, some people thought: Do governments care more about animals than they do people?’’

(The Washington Post)