They say leopards don't change their spots, but this distant cousin seems to have.
Sylvester the cheetah has formed a heart-warming bond with his trainer after being rescued as an orphaned cub.
The four-year-old will happily sit side-by-side with 31-year-old Ed Oelofse, from Zimbabwe, even though in the wild he could easily kill a grown man.
The young cheetah was found abandoned in the wild after a lion attacked and killed his mother, and four siblings.
Ms Oelofse, who is a professional animal carer at the Wild Horizons Wildlife Sanctuary, Victoria Falls, has looked after Sylvester, the sole survivor, ever since.
She said: 'Sylvester is incredible. I am just so pleased that we were able to rescue him.'
Ms Oelofse managed to train Sylvester to be so tame she can sit next to the wild animal, without fearing for her life.
She said: 'I have been working with animals all my life. I first started out helping with work on our family run photographic safari park and then got into the wildlife scene.
'I worked for a lion breeding project as the lions manager and lions training manager basically teaching lions to work with people and visa versa and being the head guide.
'It was a big change from lions to cheetahs and so had to quickly learn how to deal with different behaviours but as the cheetah manager it was my job as well as the other two guides who worked with me, to teach the cheetah how to become an ambassador, do public interactions and go out on daily walks for exercise and stimulation.
'Each and every Friday we went out with our bus and picked up 20 rural school children, some of which had never seen a cheetah or an elephant before and those that did, understood that they are pests and animals that are disruptive to normal life, and so brought them out to the Wild Horizons Sanctuary and they are able to interact physically with the elephants and the cheetah to try and give them positive conservation methods on how to look after their natural environment and habitats.
'I have been the cheetah manager for just coming up to four years now. In most of the pics they were on self-timer and so had to take a few to get the right ones, but Gift Siziba, my fellow guide and handler with Sylvester took some with me in them... but yes, that is me in all of the photos.'
Sylvester the cheetah has formed a heart-warming bond with his trainer after being rescued as an orphaned cub.
The four-year-old will happily sit side-by-side with 31-year-old Ed Oelofse, from Zimbabwe, even though in the wild he could easily kill a grown man.
The young cheetah was found abandoned in the wild after a lion attacked and killed his mother, and four siblings.
Ms Oelofse, who is a professional animal carer at the Wild Horizons Wildlife Sanctuary, Victoria Falls, has looked after Sylvester, the sole survivor, ever since.
She said: 'Sylvester is incredible. I am just so pleased that we were able to rescue him.'
Ms Oelofse managed to train Sylvester to be so tame she can sit next to the wild animal, without fearing for her life.
She said: 'I have been working with animals all my life. I first started out helping with work on our family run photographic safari park and then got into the wildlife scene.
'I worked for a lion breeding project as the lions manager and lions training manager basically teaching lions to work with people and visa versa and being the head guide.
'It was a big change from lions to cheetahs and so had to quickly learn how to deal with different behaviours but as the cheetah manager it was my job as well as the other two guides who worked with me, to teach the cheetah how to become an ambassador, do public interactions and go out on daily walks for exercise and stimulation.
'Each and every Friday we went out with our bus and picked up 20 rural school children, some of which had never seen a cheetah or an elephant before and those that did, understood that they are pests and animals that are disruptive to normal life, and so brought them out to the Wild Horizons Sanctuary and they are able to interact physically with the elephants and the cheetah to try and give them positive conservation methods on how to look after their natural environment and habitats.
'I have been the cheetah manager for just coming up to four years now. In most of the pics they were on self-timer and so had to take a few to get the right ones, but Gift Siziba, my fellow guide and handler with Sylvester took some with me in them... but yes, that is me in all of the photos.'
Music : Slow Heat by Kevin MacLeod
Source : DailyMail
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