An estimated 300 cubs are stolen every year across Ethiopia and Somalia, where they are an endangered species, and taken to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Cubs can fetch up to £6,000 and there are fears some of the money is filtered into armed militia groups such as the Somali jihadist group Al Shabaab.
The Born Free Foundation’s chief executive Will Travers said: “We are talking about a trade that is already worth a million pounds and a million pounds can buy you an awful lot of armaments to help your reign of terror wherever you want to do it.”
Born Free campaigners in Ethiopia believe farmers poach cheetah cubs then sell them on to traders heading for Somalia for just five to 20 dollars each.
The cubs are driven across the border and smuggled on to cargo ships bound for Yemen before being taken to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
However, there is some hope for the endangered animals. Some have been rescued and taken to the Born Free Ensessakotteh Wildlife Rescue, Conservation and Education Centre near Addis Ababa.
It is now caring for nine cheetahs, one adult and eight adolescents. Four were rescued from Ethiopia while the other five were rescued from over the border in Somalia.
Mr Travers said: “Up until recently, the authorities in Ethiopia had nowhere to put the cheetah cubs when they were rescued but now they have our centre, which has been jointly set up with the government.”
There is a craze among Arab businessmen for keeping cheetahs in the grounds of their sprawling mansions.
Mr Travers called this horrendous abuse which leads some species towards extinction.
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