Ambassadors for raising awareness for the illegal pet trade – poaching and habitat loss reduces wild meerkat populations and damages ecosystems. Removing a few individuals from a group can destabilize an entire colony, making them vulnerable to predators. Captured meerkats are often kept in poor conditions, leading to suffering and early death.
Meerkats are The Social Guardians of the Desert. They are small but highly social mammals known for their tight-knit family groups, upright posture, and impressive teamwork. Native to southern Africa, they thrive in arid environments, using their intelligence and strong social bonds to survive.
Scoop was rescued from unfortunate circumstances in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. He was approximately 4-6 weeks of age and very dehydrated when a Strand local found him for sale on the side of the road in May 2019. After being confiscated and nursed back to health with appropriate fluids and nutrition, Scoop became too human-habituated for rehabilitation. He has found a permanent home at our facility in Somerset West, playing an important role in educating the public at Cheetah Outreach – especially the discouragement of keeping meerkats as illegal pets.
Scoop, also addressed affectionally by his primary caregiver of “Jelly Bean”, has an intriguing personality, where love and hate come hand-in-hand. He is definitely a special character.
They live in groups of up to 40 individuals, usually family members. While others forage, one meerkat stands guard, watching for danger. Use a variety of chirps, growls, and barks to warn, call, or comfort each other. Babysitting duties are shared, and pups are taught survival skills by older members.
Sage (left), Eddie & Crash (right) and Buck (bottom right) came from Solidearth in Van Zylsrus, a NPO that deals with rehab & rescue of all wildlife but more focused on Kalahari Meerkats. The end goal is to return the animals to the wild but because of these meerkats background they could not be released.
Thankfully Cheetah Outreach, being on the lookout for a family for Scoop for more than 2 years, Alma from Solidearth reached out and we were thrilled to successfully integrate Scoop with his girlfriend Sage and the 3 pups – Buck, Eddie & Crash.
To complement the life in our Meerkat Manor, Scoop and his family also have neighbours – The Big 6 – adult mob consisted of 4 males and 2 females and of ages estimated around 6 years. Bandit (alfa male), Daisy (alfa female), Trigger, Bolt, Blaze and Luna.
Cheetah Outreach raises the awareness and educates the public regarding the increase of illegal wildlife trade affecting this species.