Iranian Family Launches Nationwide Campaign to Protect Asiatic Cheetah

Members of an Iranian family are using their car, marked with “Asiatic [or Iranian] Cheetah” slogans, to promote the culture of environmental protection and prevent the extinction of wildlife species, this animal in particular, by travelling to different Iranian provinces in the form of a caravan.

According to a Farsi report by Mehr, the head of this caravan is Bahman Najafi, an Iranian ranger retired from the Environment Department who personally pays the costs of this journey to different Iranian regions alongside his family.

Their trip began seven years ago to inform people about the harms that put the lives of cheetahs in danger.

“We started our journey from Tabas, eastern Iran, and will go on toward the cities in southern Iranian, the desert habitat of cheetah,” he said.

This caravan has arrived in Shiraz, Fars province, in southern Iran after travelling across 16 provinces.

 

The Asiatic cheetah or Iranian cheetah is a critically endangered species now on the verge of extinction and an important part of Iran’s natural and cultural heritage.

One of the significant aims of the preservation efforts is to raise public awareness not to harm the world’s most graceful wild cats.

In the early 20th century, the population of the Asiatic cheetah was distributed across many countries, including India, Pakistan, the Middle East and Russia.

Currently, the only existing population lives in the northeastern Iranian scrublands, where only 50 to 70 individuals are estimated to survive in the wild.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Iran is directing a project in conjunction with Iran’s Department of the Environment dubbed the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP).