Nichole Sobecki. Freya.

Before his rescue, cheetah cub Freya had been kept in a wood-and-wire cage and was skinny and dehydrated. Now healthy, he loves climbing on logs, sitting on high platforms, and playing with toys. Fewer than 7,000 adult cheetahs are left in the wild, but every year scores of perhaps hundreds of mostly very young cheetahs are trafficked out of Somaliland to Persian Gulf states to be sold as pets.

Through documentary photography Nichole Sobecki brings attention to humanityís fraught, intimate, and ultimately unbreakable connection to the natural world. Born in New York, she has lived in Nairobi for the past decade.

Follow Nichole on Instagram @nicholesobecki.