By Ami Hyslop | Chief Administrative Officer
One of our most important current priorities is equipping the Shealy Wildlife Clinic, a purpose-built veterinary facility at Cheetah Experience designed to provide accessible, professional medical care for the animals in our care.
The clinic building is now complete and includes an overnight care room, quarantine and monitoring room, surgical theatre, X-ray room, office, laboratory and pharmacy. The next step is to equip these spaces with the specialised veterinary equipment needed to make the clinic fully operational.
We are currently raising funds for an ultrasound machine, X-ray machine, microscope, patient monitoring equipment, surgical instruments and a new anaesthetic machine. These are not simply additions to the clinic — they are the equipment that will allow our veterinary team to diagnose, treat and monitor animals on site when they need care.
Why Immediate Access Matters
The need for this equipment has become particularly clear through recent veterinary cases.
Our veterinary team recently attended the clinic to examine our four newborn cheetah cubs, who had developed abscesses on the backs of their necks caused by their mother. The wounds required immediate attention: the abscesses were drained, the wounds were thoroughly cleaned, and the cubs were bandaged again. At the same time, we recently experienced an emergency with Juno, one of our older cheetahs, who became seriously unwell and required immediate veterinary attention.
Because we do not yet have our own diagnostic and monitoring equipment, we had to call veterinarians from Pretoria to travel to us with portable equipment so that Juno could be assessed and treated as quickly as possible.
While we are incredibly grateful to the veterinary professionals who responded and provided the necessary care, this situation highlighted exactly why completing the Shealy Wildlife Clinic is so important.
Our goal is to have the equipment on site and ready to use when an animal needs it. Instead of waiting for equipment to arrive or arranging for specialised equipment and veterinarians to travel from elsewhere, we want to be able to take action immediately.
For wildlife, where conditions can change rapidly, time matters.
Help Us Equip the Shealy Wildlife Clinic
The clinic itself is ready. Now we need to fill it with the equipment that will allow it to fulfil its purpose.
Every donation towards this project brings us closer to having a fully equipped wildlife veterinary facility where our animals can receive timely diagnostics, treatment, surgery and monitoring without unnecessary delays.
We have created a dedicated BackaBuddy fundraiser specifically to raise funds for the equipment needed to complete the Shealy Wildlife Clinic.
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