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That beautiful beast above is a king cheetah, which South African breeders can sell for as much as R1,5 million per animal.

Breeding these cats requires a great deal of dedication, as does keeping them healthy, but it seems that money often tends to trump the wellbeing of the cheetah.

Anybody who watched Tiger King will know full well that American big cat owners aren’t always the most reputable people around, but what about breeders and owners here in South Africa?

Derek Watts and his Carte Blanche team decided to take a closer at our wildlife export trade, and whether or not those who make money selling animals like cheetahs abroad are in it for the money alone:

Every year, thousands of wild animals are exported out of South Africa and traded to zoos, sold as pets or simply disappear abroad, potentially ending up in meat markets. High on the demand list is one of Africa’s favourite short-distance sprinters – the cheetah. Marketed as the “cat most like a dog”, a King Cheetah can cost up to R1.5 million a pop.

Raising a cheetah cub as a pet can lead to its death as its diet is too specialised to easily be accommodated. But that doesn’t put off international buyers. Interpol says the illegal wildlife trade is a multi-billion-dollar industry, but overlaying, and probably supporting it, is the legal trade.

The longer the segment below goes on, the worse certain breeders start to look.

Here’s the latest:

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