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

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.

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 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.

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’

‘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 Wakku 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, also 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.’

source::::mailonline

Natarajan