WAJIR, KENYA — When a young cheetah was found curled beside its dead mother on the dry plains of northern Kenya, one family chose compassion over convention.

In Wajir County, a region where predators are often met with fear or hostility, Rashid Abdi Hussein and his wife Bisharo Abdirahman Omar decided to take the orphaned cub home — and raise it as one of their children.

“Many people told us to get rid of it so it wouldn’t harm our livestock,” Omar recalled in an interview with the BBC. “We didn’t do that because it seemed unreasonable.”

Defying Fear and Tradition

In a community of Somali-speaking pastoralists who depend on goats and camels for survival, a predator in the homestead is seen as an existential threat. Yet Hussein, a 45-year-old father of ten, believed the cub deserved a chance to live.

“People are killing these animals every day,” he said. “I thought, maybe we should be different — maybe we should raise them instead.”

For more than two years, the family cared for the cub — feeding it milk through a syringe at first, then meat as it grew stronger. Eventually, the animal became tame, playful, and deeply attached to the family.

“It was troublesome at first,” Hussein admitted. “But in the end, it became part of the children.”

That care came at a cost. Hussein says he has slaughtered 15 sheep over the years to feed the cheetah — a costly sacrifice in a region where livestock is livelihood.

Praise from Conservationists

Their story has caught the attention of wildlife officials and conservation groups, who say the family’s compassion offers a rare glimpse of coexistence in a region where human–wildlife conflict is rising.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) commended the family for protecting the cheetah instead of selling or harming it.

“We deeply appreciate the Good Samaritan’s compassion and remind all Kenyans that true coexistence means protecting wildlife,” the agency said in a statement.

However, KWS also noted that keeping wild animals as pets is against Kenyan law. The cheetah has since been moved to the Nairobi Safari Walk, where it will receive proper care and rehabilitation.

The Hidden Crisis in Northern Kenya

According to Sharmaarke Mohamed, head of the Northeastern Conservancy Association (NECA), the story highlights a wider crisis.

“Cheetahs are facing a very grave threat, along with many other wild animals,” he said. “This cub was likely orphaned after its mother was killed or poisoned.”

The Cheetah Conservation Fund estimates that 200 to 300 cubs are trafficked each year from the Horn of Africa, often through northern Kenya, eastern Ethiopia, and Somalia, before being smuggled into Yemen and sold illegally across Gulf States.

A Family’s Unlikely Bond

Despite offers of money — some as high as 20,000 shillings (£115) — Omar says they never considered selling the animal.

“It had become part of the family,” she said simply.

Now, with their once-wild companion gone, the family says they are proud but wistful. Their story has resonated far beyond Wajir — a testament to what compassion can look like, even in the harshest of landscapes.