مدیر سایت

“Based on recent camera trapping surveys in Iran, only 20 different Asiatic cheetahs have been recognized in the country. Initiated since late 2011, the first comprehensive national population survey has been implementing 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, etc.

The Asiatic cheetah has attracted intensive attention of national and international scientific communities to answer various aspects of its life, particularly its population. However, so far, no precise and accurate estimation of the species population was available, making assessment of conservation measures difficult, or even impossible. Camera traps have been proposed to be useful for abundance estimation, based on other large cats experiences. However, due to lack of necessary equipment and fund for implementation, drawback in scientific methods and absence of an experienced team of trained field biologists, this technique has rarely been applied to the critically endangered Asiatic cheetahs.

So far, the ICS has covered nine reserves where the cheetahs are known to exist and simultaneously, Persian Wildlife Foundation covered Turan, one of the cheetah reserves. On the basis of analysis of more than 200 images of the cheetahs, 20 different individuals have been identified. However, due to resource constraints, there are still vast landscapes where camera traps had no chance to cover, indicating that a proportion of the country’s cheetah population has remained non-detected.

As approaching to the first round of the Iran’s National Cheetah Monitoring Program, the most significant message is that the Asiatic cheetah population is so tiny and fragile which necessitates immediate actions to safeguard the species and its range. In 2013, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) has targeted its mission to monitor specifically females. Out of only seven female cheetahs detected so far, one was killed by shepherds in Turan whereas only one of the rest was proved to have cubs. In order to evaluate reproductive status of the females, their areas will be intensively surveyed to find evidence of breeding for later conservation actions.

The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) is grateful to many organizations who contributed to this program. Special thanks go to Iranian Department of Environment (DoE), Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP), Panthera, La Palmyre Zoo, Amersfoort Zoo, Stichting SPOTS, WWF, Conservation des Espèces et des Populations Animales, Parc des Felins, Prince Bernhard Fund for Nature and many individual donors who supported us during this period. Also, we should say a big thank you to many game guards and local experts who all passionately participated in this long effort. Last but not least, the ICS experts and volunteers who spent more than 15 months in the field to run the project and to analyze the data which all are highly appreciated.”

“First phase of cheetah population survey in Naybandan Wildlife Refuge was finished. A total of 45 stations inside the reserve’s core zone were monitored for more than three months to find how many cheetahs exist in the area. As a result, more than 20 images of the Asiatic cheetahs have been obtained which need further analysis to find number of individuals. Besides the critically endangered Asiatic cheetahs, striped hyena was another frequent large carnivore which was present in most of the stations. Also, three species of foxes (i.e. Balnford’s fox, common fox and Ruppelli’s fox), golden jackal, wild cat, caracal, porcupine and ungulates were among species on images.

The next phase of Naybandan’s camera trapping program which has been done in close partnership with the area’s game wardens will continue until end of spring 2013, based on monitoring only 10 identified cheetah trails to understand plausible population changes. As one of the largest reserves in Iran, Naybandan Wildlfie Refuge covers more than 14,000 km2 of arid areas of eastern country which more than 15 different cheetahs have been known to roam the area during past decade. Jangal, known as the oldest Asiatic cheetah ever identified, was an adult male who lived in the area at least 12 to 14 years. The present project has been implementing by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) and Yazd Department of Environment (DoE) in partnership with Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) and Panthera and Persian Wildlife Foundation (PWF) which each provided several camera traps for the
project.”

Asiatic cheetah walking in the rain