In order to spread wildlife knowledge among local people, community-based organizations are supported by the ICS in different parts of Iran. These CBOs are well-motivated groups to enhance people’s awareness about the wildlife, particularly the Asiatic cheetah. Located in south Kavir National Park, Badroud is a small city where a local group is working as a volunteer environmentalist group. So far, the Badroud CBO has played a major role in holding a number of educational programs for the city’s as well as neighboring cities people which the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP), Shahid Rajaee Environmentalist Group and a number of local agencies have been its partners. Kavir National Park is one of the main habitats for the Asiatic cheetah in Iran plus Persian leopard, caracal, sand cat, etc. However, the area suffers poaching mainly from southern human settlements and the ICS is extensively working to identify and empower local groups in various communities in this area aiming to promote cheetah conservation. Abouzeydabad and Mahabad were also educational pilots for local efforts during past year.
"leopard "
Biodiversity Education Project was launched in March 2010 in Kalmand Protected Area to educate local people about its top predators, including cheetah and leopard as well as its unique biodiversity within the city of Mehriz as well as relevant villages. Kalmand is one of the main hotspots of the endangered Persian leopard in central Iran and is supposed to be among the last refuges of the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah in Iran.
A variety of threats have been identified in this area affecting adversely survival of the species with poaching and habitat loss as the most important. Therefore, with respect to these factors, particularly poaching which has been boosted up recently by local youths in Kalmand, the educational program was started by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS). Hence, this project is training people in different age groups associated with relevant problems in Kalmand in order to protect regional biodiversity and important species, especially the big cats.
Initially, negotiations were done with local stakeholders, including Yazd Department of Environment, Ministry if Education, Mehriz Governor Office, etc. Meanwhile, the area’s baseline of information was developed composing if the site’s socio-economic data. Similar experiences of the past ICS’ project in Bafq were also shared with local partners to be more familiar with the project trend. Kalmand’s game wardens were recognized to be highly essential in success of the project, so they were asked to prepare the project’s goals and outcomes.
Finally, the project was started in local schools, after preliminary knowledge assessment to measure the project’s impact after the workshops. Game wardens were also present in the workshops o describe their role for the students. Now, the ICS is planning 6 tours for all local students to visit kalmand and to learn more practically about the animals on the ground. Their teachers will be also trained by the ICS to be more environmental-friendly teachers.
The Kalmand educational project is implementing with cooperation of Yazd Department of Environment with initial funding from Royal Dutch Embassy in Tehran and will last until spring 2011.
PRA meeting with Kalmand’s game wardens
National Cheetah Day celebration was held on fourth consecutive year on 16 and 17 September in Tehran Zoo. Organized by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), the festival was attended by various Iranian groups, such as NGOs, eco-tour communities, press representatives and university groups. It was supported by Iran Khordo Company, Sahlan Co. as well as with close cooperation of the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) and Tehran Zoo.
The ICS arranged a variety of educational programs for visitors, such matches, drawing, etc. Cheetah Theater was among special events during the two-day festival. Visitors were presented information about research programs on Iranian carnivores, particularly the Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard and Cheetah Radio announced latest news about the elusive animal in the zoo.
On 31 August 1994, a family of Iranian cheetahs was attacked by a number of people near Bafq Protected Area, central Iran. The mother run away, two cubs were killed, but the last cub was saved and lived in Pardisan Zoo, Tehran until 2003. She, namely Marita, was the only captive Iranian cheetah in the world and was a symbol for lack of awareness among local people in Iran which has been always considered as one of the main initiatives for the Iranian Cheetah Society since establishment in 2001.
Since 2007, the Cheetah Day has been celebrated by various Iranian NGOs and the Iranian Department of the Environment (DoE)’s Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project in which numerous educational programs were held inside the main cities as well as local communities around the cheetah habitat. Due to coincidence of the cheetah day and Ramadan, it was celebrated in September 2010.
National Festival of Biodiversity was held in Darabad Museum of Nature and Wildlife in Tehran. The festival was held by the museum and some 30 Iranian NGOs attended between 19 and 21 May 2010.
The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) was among the participants with various educational programs. Cheetah Theater was first opened in the festival which has been prodiucing by the ICS since March with generous funds from PBNF/Netherlands. The theater was warmly welcomed among the visitors and the ICS plans to implement it within local communities as a powerful and effective educational tool. Moreover, scientific lectures about the Iranian animals, particularly Persian leopard was on the issues. Cheetah & ladder, wildlife booth, etc. were also visited by the festival visitors.
December 2007- Islamic council of five main villages inside Bafq Protected Area are organizing to train the shepherds and villagers about the critically Asiatic cheetah. These target settlements have been selected due to their vicinity to the cheetah habitat as well as their higher impact on human-induced mortality of the cheetahs in Bafq PA where is estimated to hold more than 10 animals. In cooperation with UNDP/GEF SGP, DOE and PTES, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) is educating different target groups in Bafq where holds the highest cheetah mortality in the country till end of 2008.
With respect to their continuous presence in the field, shepherds are considered as a significant target group which generally confuse the cheetah with other similar-sized carnivores, including wolf, leopard, striped hyena and even caracal and wild cat. They suppose the cheetah to be guilty in charge of any livestock depredation; but the species is rarely the main cause. After a year round human-carnivore assessment, it was concluded that the cheetah, wolf, golden eagle and caracal are the main threats to the herder’s ownership in five main villages. On the basis of results of conflict assessment, a specific Shepherds Training Course has been developed, in which they learn how to identify the cheetah as well as other carnivores, main causes of livestock depredation by carnivores and preventive measures to reduce the present conflict. The training course has been developed with collaboration of local NGOs and Islamic councils which play a significant role in this educational project.
Negotiations are undergoing with local governmental authorities to enforce livestock insurance program which can compensate a proportion of herders’ loss to the carnivores, including the cheetah. Inside each village, a core group of cheetah friends has been formed which they had received a preliminary capacity building in order to be able to educate other people as well as gather and verity cheetah events, such sighting, depredation, mortality, etc. For instance, a cat was found dead in November floating inside a village pool which was supposed to be a cheetah. Fortunately, the case was immediately reported to the latter group. They visited the site and verified the animal as a wild cat resembling to a cheetah due to its spotted pattern.
Eurasian lynx on wild sheep kill in Anguran Wildlife Refuge, western Iran (
ICS Co-Founder Received the Future for Nature Award 2009
Mohammad Farhadinia was awarded the 2009 Future for Nature Award at the Burger Zoo, Arnhem (Netherlands). Mohammad was selected due to his efforts on behalf of the cheetah and the leopard in Iran. The award was presented by Sir David Attenborough and the chair of the Future for Nature Foundation, Herman Rijksen, at a ceremony held at the zoo on the 20th March.
A total of 148 wildlife conservationists from 56 countries around the world participated in the competition. Only three outstanding individuals received this honour. The other two recipients were Maggie Muurmans (The Netherlands) and Inza Kon
November 2007- The first ecological study on the brown bear in Iran has been conducting since 2006 by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) in North Central Alborz Protected Area. Supported by the Iranian Department of the Environment (DOE) and Deutch Zoo Conservation Fund (DZCF), this research project has focused on various ecological aspects of the species as a part of “ICS Big Carnivores Program” in Iran. The study area is mainly composed of Hyrcanian mountain forests in northern Mazandaran province, aiming to provide a baseline for the future studies as well as to develop management plans.
The brown bear is the largest carnivore in Iran which has not yet been studied in the country as it deserves and there is not documented information about it in Iran as well as international organizations. Meanwhile, the growing conflict with local people and lethal control methods against it in most of the species range in the country have faced a serious threat to its survival. Accordingly, this research project was launched to work on the brown bear’s food habits, behavior, habitat selection, conflict with local communities, population status and reproduction. The species hibernation is fully unknown in Iran and no data is available on if the bear do so in various habitats of the country. Therefore, despite of harsh environmental circumstances in winter, bear hibernation was investigated during winter 2006-2007, concluding that the bears spend a minimum of 60 to 70 days inside their winter dens, probably one of the shortest hibernations among the species range throughout the world. Conflict between the animal and the local people in the habitat is relatively high, thus, a part of this research is dedicated to the local people, to probe into their problems and also their threats to the wildlife.
As mentioned on scientific literature, one of the most practical solutions to recognize different individuals of a bear population in a particular area during a short period of time is perhaps to recognize different individuals according to their appearance, color and some special morphological signs. We found a high variability of color patterns among the bears in the study area, from yellowish to quite dark and have been able to count at least 37 to 39 brown bears during a limited time of two months in the area’s core zone.
As well as the brown bear, some studies have been also accomplishing about the other available species in the area, including Persian leopard and Eurasian lynx. The Persian leopard is one of the most charismatic species which we have managed to get some valuable data about it, mainly on predation, habitat selection and conflict with local communities which a short communication has been published on spring 2007 issue of IUCN Cat News (you can download it from Library). Unfortunately, annually at least 15 to 20 domestic cows from 8 villages around the area are killed by the leopards and in return, at least 1 to 2 leopards get lethally eradicated, mainly through lacing carcasses with organochlorine pesticides to poison leopards returning to feed on a kill. Therefore, it seems extremely essential that the Iranian Department of the Environment needs to take serious measures to reduce this conflict.
Cheetahs among Students Inside Villages of Bafq Protected Area
May 2007- The first phase of educational project for local students in Bafq Protected Area aiming at increasing awareness about the critically endangered Iranian cheetah has been successfully finished. Started since mid 2006 in 2 phases, the cheetah educational project has been focusing on education of senior high school students about the cheetah and other large carnivores of the area.
As the first step, a network of local stakeholders has been formed in order to collaborate in implementation of educational activities in 2 main fields, students and herders. The students are now able to identify the cheetah as well as other large carnivores, including leopard, wolf and hyena and have learned about the animals’ life and status. As a result of general education for the students, an elite group of 50 enthusiastic students are now chosen by themselves to learn more practically in the second year about the cheetah, visiting the cheetah habitat and helping to share the cheetah knowledge with the other local people.
As another main target group, the herders who possess the highest encounter with the cheetah which sometimes lead to killing the animal are going to be educated about the cheetah. According to surveys done in the area, Bafq Protected Area is one of few areas out of several Iranian cheetah habitats where the cheetahs are surely in direct conflict with livestock and there are a considerable amount of cheetah attacks on domestic animals. On the other hand, most of the livestock killings occur in nighttime darkness when the killer in charge is hardly seen by the herders and since the cheetah is a famous animal among the local people at the moment, most of the kills are related to the animal by the local herders. Accordingly, immediate educational practices are needed to increase the awareness about the cheetah and how to identify the cheetah and other large carnivores in order to prevent eradication of the critically endangered cheetahs.
Located in central province of Yazd, Bafq Protected Area has an area of more than 150,000 hectares with an estimated population of 15 cheetahs. On the other hand, the area has had the highest human-induced mortality during the past decade, at least 1.5 animals per year, mainly due to lack of awareness about the cheetah and the fear of being an enemy to the human and its properties. Aiming at removing incorrect believes about the cheetah, the Bafq Cheetah Educational Project hopes to find sustainable ways to save the flagship creature from extinction with participation of local people.