I was watching "Fly Home Again" earlier today and remembered how much I liked it as a kid, but it also brought to mind another movie from around roughly the same period of time that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me. It was set in Africa and featured these 2 young cheetahs (may have been something else...I think it was a wild cat of some sort). I'm not sure exactly what the plot was, but the human characters were scientists, zoologists or something. At the end of the story, both of the wild cats die. I remember that this made me sad because it was based on a true story. I can't really remember a whole lot else, but I brought this up to my mom and she thinks the name of the movie had "Wild" in it somewhere, which rings a bell. Any help would be appreciated.

It would be the film, Cheetah, and it was about two kids with scientists, for parents, who adopt a cheetah as a pet, and try to save it from poachers, and it was released in 1989.

Or atleast, I think that was the film.

These two films are similar to your description of the movie you saw on TV. You'll find them on IMDB. I've provided links. I hope this helps. Good luck.

Born Free (1966):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060182/


To Walk With Lions (1999):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132563/