BATON ROUGE – BREC's Baton Rouge Zoo has welcomed two young cheetahs to its collection of animals.

The two cheetahs are female and were born on Nov. 15, 2015, at the San Diego Safari Park. According to zoo officials, they are both on loan from the Fort Worth Zoo.

The cheetah is classified as vulnerable with only 7,000 cheetahs remaining in the wild and with numbers decreasing. In the nation, 303 cheetahs reside in 55 accredited zoos.

BREC's Baton Rouge Zoo supports several cheetah conservation organizations, including the Cheetah Conservation Fund and Action for Cheetahs in Kenya.

Zoo officials say that much of the funds are raised during the annual "Zoo Run Run" event each August. This year's event will be held on Aug. 26.