Only two female Asiatic cheetahs remain in wild in Iran

Iranian Cheetah Society says situation is critical as numbers of the subspecies continue to dwindle

Saeed Kamali Dehghan Iran correspondent

Tuesday 30 August 201619.11 BSTLast modified on Wednesday 31 August 201607.30 BST

Conservationists say only two female Asiatic cheetahs are known to be alive in the wild in Iran, which hosts the last surviving population.

Asiatic cheetahs, also known as Iranian cheetahs, are a subspecies of the fastest animal on earth and classified as critically endangered, with fewer than 40 believed to remain in Iran.

As part of efforts to raise the animal’s profile, in the past decade cheetahs have been displayed on the national football team’s kit and on stamps, but it has become increasingly imperilled. 

Tuesday was Iran’s national cheetah day, marking an event more than two decades ago when a cub named Marita survived an attack by a group of villagers in which his mother and two siblings were killed. Marita became a national symbol. 

Morteza Eslami, head of the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), a Tehran-based NGO, said camera traps in areas with the most Asiatic cheetahs had seen just two females in recent months.

“The situation is very critical,” he said. “We have been monitoring the situation closely in the past five years and the population of female Asiatic cheetahs has significantly dropped.”

Delaram Ashayeri, an independent conservationist, said: “Unfortunately the number of female cheetahs has been dwindling. In areas where camera traps have been operating for a long time … we are not seeing many female cheetahs or we’re seeing only carcasses.”

In the past 15 years, 48 cheetahs are believed to have died, seven from natural causes, 21 at the hands of farmers, 15 in car accidents and five as a result of hunting.

Read on  

New survey shows Iranian cheetahs edging towards extinction

Just 40 to 70 Asiatic Cheetahs Left in Iran

September 2013. Iran is home to the last known population of Asiatic cheetah which once roamed across vast ranges of west and south Asian countries. However, despite enforced protection efforts in recent years, no reliable information was available about the cheetah population in the country which made assessment of conservation measures impossible.

Comprehensive monitoring

To rectify this a comprehensive monitoring program was initiated by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) in partnership with Iran's Department of Environment, the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project and Panthera to understand demographic characteristics of the cheetahs in Iran between 2011 and 2013. As a result of extensive research & camera trapping, a population of just 40 to 70 individuals is now accepted for the entire country, significantly fewer than the previous estimate of 70 to 100.

Read further

Just 20 individual cheetahs identified in Iran so far, including 6 surviving females

More areas left to be surveyed

March 2013. Based on recent camera trapping surveys in Iran, just 20 different Asiatic cheetahs have been identified in the country. Initiated in late 2011, the first comprehensive national population survey has been implemented by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) and Iranian Department of Environment (DoE) in partnership with Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) and Panthera. 

Around half of the country's known cheetah population exist in central province of Yazd with multiple reserves for the species, while rest of the cheetahs roam areas such as Miandasht, Kavir, Turan & Doruneh amongst.

The Asiatic cheetah has attracted intensive attention of national and international scientific communities who are studying various aspects of its life, particularly its population size. However, so far, no precise and accurate estimate of the species population was available, making assessment of conservation measures difficult, or even impossible.

Camera traps
Camera traps have been proposed as a useful way to estimate their numbers, based on other large cat research. However, due to lack of necessary equipment and funding, limited scientific training and absence of an experienced team of trained field biologists, this technique has rarely been applied to the Critically Endangered Asiatic cheetahs.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/iran-cheetah-population013.html#cr

Asiatic cheetahs forced to hunt livestock

Asiatic cheetahs, one of the world's most endangered animals, are forced to eat livestock in areas where their wild prey is in decline, a study has found.

An international team of scientists working in Iran investigated what the animals ate in places where game numbers had been reduced by poachers.

They found the cats had turned to hunting domestic animals because they could not survive on smaller prey.

Safeguarding the cats needs a clamp down on poaching, the scientists found.

The study is published in the Journal of Arid Environments and addresses a conflict that emerged among Iranian conservationists over the Asiatic cheetah, a subspecies of the cheetah that is "critically endangered" according to the IUCN's Red List.

Read on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19705131

New road risk to Iran’s cheetahs & leopards

Hotspot for two rare speciesFebruary 2012: One of Iran's national parks is fighting for survival. Like many other protected areas in the world, a road is planned to be developed through heart of the Bafq Protected Area, one of the main hotspots for two rare species, Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard.

The new road plans are controversial, with critics claiming the current road is already adequate and the new route, which is not significantly shorter, would pass through dangerous and steep mountainous slopes so increasing fuel consumption and potentially leading to higher numbers of road accidents.

Important populations of cheetahs and leopardsLocated in central Iran, Bafq is one of the most important habitats for Iran's two big cats where numerous records of cheetah and leopard families indicate a breeding site for both species, and particularly for the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah.

It has been under official protection since 1996 and now there is a relatively good population of cheetah and leopard, as well as caracal and Manul's cat, in the area. Additionally Bafq has a good potential for sighting cheetahs which increases its chances of it becoming a prime site for ecotourism.

During the 1990s, numerous cheetahs were killed in the area by locals, but since an educational programme was launched there has been an impressive decline in poaching. However, the new road plans now pose a threat to this precious landscape.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/iran-bafq.html