Voorwaartsie (Voorwaarts se bylaag vir die laerskool) het ‘n onderhoud met Malan Schoeman (gr. 2) gevoer. Hy het op die ouderdom van drie met twee jagluiperde grootgeword. Hier onder is ‘n paar artikels wat oor hom, sy gesin en hul besonderse troeteldiere geskryf is.

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Express: Home of the Daily and Sunday Express

Pet cheetahs are just big pussycats
As family pets go, these toddlers’ two cats are definitely on the wild side.
By: Natalie Chalk
Published: Thu, May 9, 2013

Baby Kayla goes for a ride with pet cheetah.

But three-year-old Malan Schoeman and his baby sister Kayla were raised with the pair of cheetahs and now treat them as their best friends.

They think nothing of sharing their toys with them and happily give the deadly cats kisses and cuddles.

And while a game of tag might be tricky with the world’s fastest land animals, cheetahs Wakuu and Skyla always play along – even enjoying rides on the family’s quad bike.

Park ranger Hein Schoeman, 29, and his wife Kim adopted the animals as vulnerable cubs a year ago at Garden Route Game Lodge in Western Cape, South Africa.

An extraordinary friendship soon blossomed between the cats and the couple’s two young children. Kim, also 29, said: “I would be warming milk for babies and warming milk for cheetahs.

Baby Kayla kisses Cheetah cub as brother Malan looks on.

I would end up having the cheetahs and the kids in bed with me said Park ranger’s wife Kim

“They wanted to be close to us because they didn’t have a mother. They were so much a part of our family that I would end up having the cheetahs and the kids in bed with me. The kids saw them as completely normal. There was no difference in the way they treated the dogs or the cheetahs. They cuddled them like big teddy bears.”

The cheetahs are being taught to hunt in the hope they can go back into the wild one day. And Malan and one-year-old Kayla are learning to play with the animals in a safe way.

Kim said: “The kids were taught not to run anywhere near the cats and when they walk, they have to face them. They are not allowed to turn their backs on them.

“If the cats jump or pounce, then they push them down and say ‘No, don’t do that,’ as other children might do to a dog. Cheetahs are wild animals and their instincts are there.”

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Huff Post World

Cheetah House’: Schoeman Family’s Pet Cheetahs Live Like Regular Kitties
The Huffington Post | By Ron Dicker Posted: 05/09/2013 8:45 pm EDT | Updated: 05/09/2013 9:11 pm EDT

Here’s one family dynamic you should never try to emulate.

“Cheetah House,” new video posted to YouTube April 25 by Imogen Richards, shows two toddlers playing with cheetahs as if they were house cats. The video has grabbed attention for its other startling images of the cheetahs, Wakku and Skyla, living as pets with 1-year-old Kayla Schoeman and her 3-year-old brother, Malan, in South Africa. Parents Hein and Kim Schoeman are animal trainers on the Albertinia animal reserve where the cubs, now 1, were born.

As the film above shows, the family has no qualms about incorporating the cheetahs into domestic fun, like cuddling, toy time, leashed walks and jeep rides.

Having the world’s fastest land mammal for a pet has its advantages in a game of fetch, but it can be gruesome when training the cheetahs to hunt, as the video shows in graphic footage.

Both cheetahs will be freed into the wild eventually, the Schoemans say in the film. Until then, they are part of the family. With limits.

“When you raise them, it’s extremely strict,” the husband told ABC News. “You need to establish dominance and respect first of all and maintain that.” The children have been carefully schooled in how to safely interact with the cats, the trainers emphasized.
The living experiment illustrates how humans and nature can find common ground, Hein Schoeman said to ABC.
The Schoemans assumed care of the two cheetahs because they feared the cats’ mother wouldn’t be able to take care of all four of her cubs.
As Cheetah.org points out, fast cats have a domestic history. “Pharaohs kept cheetahs as close companions,” according to the site, and the animals figured prominently in Ancient Egypt’s notion of death. It was believed that the cheetah “would carry the Pharaoh’s soul to the afterworld.”

Despite being able to accelerate from 0 to 64 mph in 3 seconds, cheetahs are losing the race for survival. There are now less than 15,000 in Africa, the Wildlife Conservation Society says.

Care to aid conservation efforts without adopting cheetahs of your own? (Seriously, don’t adopt your own.) Visit the WCS.

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The Herald

Cheetahs part of family
10 May 2013
John Harvey

There is not much need for fluffy toys in the Schoeman household, considering the children’s best pals are two cheetah cubs and a Labrador named Bagus.

Hein and Kim Schoeman, who work and live at the Garden Route Lodge in Albertinia, have been raising cheetahs Skyla and Waaku along with their children Malan, 3, and Kayla, 1.

“The cheetahs’ mother was born on the property 10 years ago and was reintroduced into the wild two years ago. She then produced four cubs, the first time this had happened in the Western Cape for more than 100 years,” Kim said.

“We decided to remove two of the cubs to improve the survival rate, and took them home with us. At that time I had a three-month-old daughter and the cubs were six weeks old, so I had to look after all of them.”

With their furry “siblings” ever present, Malan and Kayla, like Mowgli in the Jungle Book, quickly designated them their playmates. “Our kids are always under our supervision when they play with the cheetahs,” Kim said.

“Our Labrador also helped raise them [cheetahs], constantly licking them and checking on them.

“My kids took to them immediately, and even though we have told them how to be safe because these are wild animals, they treat them like ordinary house cats. They don’t see the difference.”
When the cheetahs were four months old, the couple moved them to an enclosure about 10m from their house.

Hein has taught the cheetahs how to hunt in the wild, crawling on his stomach to show his young charges how to stalk springbok. Once the targeted buck has been caught, the cheetahs return to the homestead and “have dinner like the rest of the family”.

“We are using them as ambassadors for the park at the moment.

“We are able to take the cheetahs for walks on leads when we take visitors around the reserve as part of our wildlife education programmes.”

The Schoemans have been inundated with calls from US and English media about their unusual family, thanks to a YouTube video shot by former Australian volunteer Imogen Richards.

“Imogen started the documentary by filming the cheetahs inside our house, and the video has gone viral. Last night [Wednesday] I spoke to a journalist from New York who asked me how the kids were with the cheetahs, and I had to tell them, ‘My kids are wilder than they are’.”

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MailOnline

Bet I can go faster than you: Boy, 3, and his sister who have grown up with CHEETAHS and even take them out in their mini Jeep
• Wildcats, Wakku and Skyla, were adopted by family in South Africa as cubs
By Nick Enoch
PUBLISHED: 09:20 GMT, 8 May 2013 | UPDATED: 11:00 GMT, 8 May 2013

At the wheel, a little blond-haired boy… and by his side, a cheetah. It’s not your average playtime scene but this is no ordinary family.

Three-year-old Malan and his sister Kayla, one, are best friends with the world’s fastest land animals – two deadly cheetahs.

The siblings have formed an extraordinary bond with the creatures after growing up with them in their home in South Africa.

Three-year-old Malan can often be found taking his ‘pet’ out for a ride in the family’s little Jeep in the Western Cape of South Africa

Kayla, one, and her brother, Malan, have formed an extraordinary bond with two cheetahs – Wakku and Skyla – after growing up with them in their home

The remarkable family friendship began a year ago when a wild cheetah living at the Garden Route Game Lodge gave birth to four cubs. The children’s parents, managing Game Ranger, Hein, 29, and his wife Kim adopted two of the cubs.

The pair think nothing of sharing their toys with the two cheetahs – affectionately known as Wakuu and Skyla – and can often be found taking their feline friends out for a ride in the family’s mini Jeep.

Their parents, Kim and Hein Schoeman, are also very close to the cats.

Hein now even teaches the cheetahs to hunt for themselves so as not to alienate them from their natural environment, in the hope they might be reintroduced into the wild one day.

More…
• Christian’s extraordinary journey: ‘I bought a lion in Harrods – and he took me to Africa’
• The hunted becomes the hunter: The amazing moment a wildebeest turns the tables on a cheetah trying to make it dinner
The remarkable family friendship began a year ago when a wild cheetah living at the Garden Route Game Lodge in the Western Cape of South Africa gave birth to four cubs.
Managing Game Ranger, Hein, 29, and his wife Kim adopted two of the cubs.
Growing up with CHEETAHS… the not-so-usual family pet

Kim, 29, said: ‘I would be warming milk for babies and warming milk for cheetahs. I just kept feeding everyone’

Kim and Hein were stunned to see the extraordinary relationship that formed between the cats and their two young children – then just two years and three months old

The couple considered the cubs to be vulnerable because a mother cheetah can usually only provide for half of her litter and mortality rates are highest during the first 16 weeks of life

The couple considered them to be vulnerable because a mother cheetah can usually only provide for half of her litter and mortality rates are highest during the first 16 weeks of life.

However, in the months that followed, Kim and Hein were stunned to see the extraordinary relationship that formed between the cats and their two young children – then just two years and three months old.

Kim, 29, said: ‘I would be warming milk for babies and warming milk for cheetahs. I just kept feeding everyone.
‘When I was working, I would have them all in the office with me during the day and at night I would get up every two hours to feed them.

Kim said: ‘The kids were taught not to run anywhere near the cats and when they walk, they have to face them. They are not allowed to turn their backs on them’

As Wakku and Skyla got older and bigger, Kim and Hein created a new shelter for them in their back garden where they now live.

‘They wanted to be close to us because they didn’t have a mother and they were so much a part of our family that I would end up having the cheetahs and the kids in bed with me.

‘The kids saw them as completely normal. There was no difference in the way they treated the dogs or the cheetahs. They cuddled them like big teddy bears.’

As Wakuu and Skyla got older and bigger, Kim and Hein created a new shelter for them in their back garden where they now live.
But the bond between the toddlers and the cats has remained strong as they have been bought up together – essentially as siblings.

The children cuddle up to their wildcat friends as if they were teddy bears

The couple, not wanting to take any risks, took special precautions – teaching their children how to play with the animals in a safe way

Kim said: ‘The kids were taught not to run anywhere near the cats and when they walk, they have to face them. They are not allowed to turn their backs on them.

‘Our kids are small but they think they are dominant. If the cats jump or pounce, then they just push them down and say “No, don’t do that”, like other children might do to a dog.

‘The cheetahs are wild animals and their instincts are there. The kids realise they can’t just go into the enclosure to play with them whenever they want to.

‘It’s a lot of work in the beginning but it’s worth it.’

If the cats jump or pounce, then they just push them down and say ‘No, don’t do that’, like other children might do to a dog.

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Adopted Cheetahs Form Unusual Bond With Toddlers
By Gio Benitez
@GioBenitez
Follow on Twitter
May 9, 2013 9:57am

ABC News’ Gio Benitez reports:
For parents Hein and Kim Schoeman, allowing two cheetahs to play with their toddlers is an everyday occurrence because the young children have formed an unusual bond with the wild cats.

One-year-old Kayla and her 3-year-old brother, Malan, treat the cheetahs as ordinary house cats in their home in South Africa. The relationship between the family and cheetahs is the subject of their new documentary titled “Cheetah House.”

The cheetahs are never excluded from family activities such as cuddling with the toddlers, taking a ride and roaming the house without a leash. It might be a dicey lifestyle for some, but for the Schoemans, experienced animal trainers who live and work on a reserve, it’s their bid to show how people and wild animals can bond.

“At the end of the day, it all boils down to how humans and nature can live together and respect each other. That’s what it’s about,” Hein Schoeman said in a Skype interview with ABC News.

The cheetahs, Wakuu and Skyla, were born about a year ago at an animal reserve in Albertinia, South Africa. The couple didn’t think the mother cheetah could take care of all four cheetah babies.

Wakuu and Skyla were not getting enough milk and nutrition and the Schoemans feared they were going to die. That’s when they stepped in and adopted the cubs, and welcomed them into their home.

“When you raise them, it’s extremely strict. You need to establish dominance and respect first of all and maintain that,” Schoeman said.
Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, saw the video of the Schoemans’ children cuddling with Wakuu and Skyla.

Hanna says cheetahs are actually gentle creatures but cautioned that this is not something people should try at home even though it makes for a great Facebook default photo.

“No, it’s not a good idea because this is not something you’re going to go out and do yourself,” Hanna warned.

Cheetahs, the world’s fastest animal on land, were once kept as companions to pharaohs of ancient Egypt.

The Schoemans are training Wakku and Skyla to hunt so they could one day leave the house and enter into the wild.

Zookeeper Hanna said, “So when they go visit their cheetah out in the wild someday, they’ll be in that land rover, seeing that beautiful creature out there 100, 200 yards away. That’s how far they’ll stay away from it. Let him be a cheetah.”

Until then, the Schoemans say they have been “very lucky” to have this extraordinary experience.

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Fiona Ayerst/Africa Media/Caters New Agency

Toddlers, aged one and three, are raised with deadly cheetahs
Best friends … Malan, three, was raised with two cheetahs
By ELLIE ROSS

A BOY of three and his one-year-old sister have had a wild upbringing – growing up with two deadly CHEETAHS.

Little Malan and Kayla share their toys with big cats Wakuu and Skyla – and even take their feline friends for rides on the family quad bike.

The siblings have formed a close bond with the creatures – the fastest-running land animals – after growing up with them in their South African home.

Bond … Kayla kisses one of the cheetahs

Parents Kim and Hein Schoeman are also close to the cats, and they have been training them to hunt in the hope of releasing them into the wild in future.

The unusual family friendship began a year ago when a wild cheetah gave birth to four cubs at South Africa’s Garden Route Game Lodge.
Fearing the mother could only care for half of her brood, Managing Game Ranger, Hein and his wife Kim, both 29, adopted two of the cubs.
Soon the extraordinary relationship formed between the cats and their two toddlers – then aged just two years and three months old.

Close … the big cats and the children were raised almost as siblings.

Kim, 29, said: “I would be warming milk for babies and warming milk for cheetahs. I just kept feeding everyone.

“When I was working I would have them all in the office with me during the day and at night I would get up every two hours to feed them.

“They wanted to be close to us because they didn’t have a mother and they were so much a part of our family that I would end up having the cheetahs and the kids in bed with me.

“The kids saw them as completely normal. There was no difference in the way they treated the dogs or the cheetahs. They cuddled them like big teddy bears.”

Taking no risks … the kids were taught by their parents never to turn their back on the big cats

As Wakku and Skyla grew, Kim and Hein created a new shelter for them in their back garden – but the bond between the toddlers and the cats has remained strong.

The couple taught their children how to play with the animals in a safe way.

Kim said: “The kids were taught not to run anywhere near the cats and when they walk, they have to face them. They are not allowed to turn their backs on them.

‘Big teddy bears’ … mum Kim said the children cuddled up to the cheetahs when they were cubs

“Our kids are small but they think they are dominant. If the cats jump or pounce, then they just push them down and say ’No, don’t do that,’ like other children might do to a dog.

“The cheetahs are wild animals and their instincts are there. The kids realise they can’t just go into the enclosure to play with them whenever they want to.

“It’s a lot of work in the beginning but it’s worth it.”

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Videos:

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