It is now four years that 31 August is celebrated as Cheetah Day in Iran which has been a great milestone for the cheetah conservation since proposition in 2007. The event has been organized in order to draw the Iranian community’s attention toward the endangered status of the cheetah in Iran as well as more emphasis on improving conservation efforts of the creature across the country. 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. In 2008, a number of sessions, seminars and discussion groups were formed around the Cheetah Day to exchange data about the Asiatic cheetah and to share knowledge. Meanwhile, the Iranian mass media had a major role to celebrate the event. With respect to intensive public welcome of Cheetah Day programs, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) invites all organizations, societies, and persons who are willing to corporate in this field all over the country.
On 31 August 1994, a family of Iranian cheetahs were 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.
The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) would like to propose the International Cheetah Day to all the relevant NGOs and persons in order to spread the knowledge of the cheetah and its gloomy future to the people worldwide and will shake hand to all the enthusiastic organizations and people. Please contact us for further details through [email protected].
Statement of the Asiatic Cheetah Protection Day
It has been 14 years since the day when a rare young cheetah was rescued from an unavoidable death. Local people were scared of the young cheetah and her family. Their fear originated from their unawareness, maybe if they had known that the cheetah was not a threat to them and their livestock, and if they had known cheetah
