Rangers can play a serious role in conserving wildlife especially endangered species, which are facing multiple threats such as mine, road and railway development, and also livestock and their sheepdogs.
The insufficiency of rangers in the Department of Environment(DoE) protected areas (compared to worldwide standards) has always been a concern for conservationists. On the other hand, the complexity of hiring new rangers (such as equipment, insurance, legislation, health risks, etc.) is a true challenge to decision-makers.
Through the past twelve months, the Iranian Cheetah Society had focused on work in Miandsasht Wildlife Refuge in which due to its ongoing projects for cheetah conservation. We hired 2 new rangers in the area in order to help current 8 other rangers in patrols, livestock movement control, and examining wildlife tracking. The contract of this project was signed in early 2019 in attendance of the head of North Khorasan province DoE and Jajarm county governer.
Through the first contract, 2 people who were already familiar with the area and ranger responsibilities started work and increased manpower by 20%. The contract continued with only one of the 2 rangers.
The ICS bought a CRM motorcycle, repaired one of the existing motorcycles, funded fuel, and further repairs to facilitate the vehicle shortage in patrols.
Hiring these people has had a big amount of legal and financial responsibilities for the ICS and can be mentioned as one of the most expensive of its projects. Hopefully, this project has had financial help from sponsors such as Raees cafe, Seen cafe, Mohajerat Plus co., StichingSpots., caring people, and also the support of the head and staff of North Khorasan DoE, and head of Jajarm county DoE.
