Kasi’s First Birthday Party
Celebrate the first birthday of Busch Garden’s famous cheetah with the team of keepers that have raised him for the past year. Meet his puppy pal Mtani and hear zoo educators share his story while learning more about the plight of the cheetah.
In the morning, guests can sign and decorate an over-sized birthday banner. Later that afternoon, the banner will be presented the cheetah cub as he enjoys his first-ever birthday cake. The enormous cake is being prepared by Busch Gardens’ culinary team with cheetah-safe foods and enrichment toys.
DATE/TIME: Sunday, Feb. 19. Park hours are 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Cheetah Run at Busch Gardens, near Cheetah Hunt
An Invitation from Anna Chaney, Animal Keeper:
This Sunday we celebrate the first birthday of its cutest, smartest, sweetest baby ever. No, I am not partial at all! Kasi will be one year old on February 19 and we are going to pull out all the stops for this little one who almost didn’t make it to see his first week, let alone his first year!
Kasi's Story:
Kasi was born to an older mother who had never had cubs before. She wasn’t able to produce enough milk for him, so humans had to hand raise him with a bottle in his first few weeks of life.
People have yet to perfect the formula to replace mother’s milk for any baby, so we enlisted the help of our vets and staff nutritionist, as well as the help of other zoo facilities that had experience raising baby cheetahs to decide what Kasi’s diet should be. It was a tricky nerve wracking few months as we figured out just the right ratios his little growing body needed. We must have done something right because he is a healthy precocious little boy weighing in at over 70 lbs. now!
Kasi is a neverending source of joy for me, as one of his primary trainers.
Cheetahs are one of the largest cats that can purr and Kasi is no exception. He has a big purr and a big heart. The past year, learning right along side him, has been wonderful and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings!
His keepers are teaming up with our education department as well as his fans to create a fun filled day in honor of this very special boy. Of course his canine companion, Mtani, will be there as well to share in all the festivities.
We will be making lots of treats for him to eat, fun enrichment items for him to play with, and our guests will have opportunities leading up to the event to sign a giant sheet of paper to write personal messages to him and give their well wishes for him! We will place the sheet on the habitat for him on his birthday for all to see!
Please join us on February 19 to wish this very special cheetah a very happy birthday.
