Eventually, after around two years of field surveys and tracking, the ICS
With 34 festivals held during the past one year in Iran, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) passed a successful year of local educational efforts for the sake of the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah. Since April 2010, the ICS
Despite of one year after the
Located along Zagros Mountain in west central Iran, Lorestan (Luristan) Province is considered of those areas that rarely have been surveyed for the wildlife in the country. The province is of the first localities where caracal has been verified in Iran, but wildlife knowledge is awfully scant in/about this province.
According to the last assessment, 9 leopards have been poached in the province which is the highest confirmed annual poaching within a province in Iran during 2009 which with respect to non-reported numbers, it is logical to expect that 1 leopard is poached on a monthly basis. A majority of the animals have been killed by local people, both hunters as well as livestock owners. Also, road incidents were also reported to be a minor cause.
The leopard status in Lorestan has raised serious concern within the Iranian Department of Environment (DoE) and a joint agreement has been formed with the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) to conduct status assessment and to train experts and game wardens. The areas are going to be visited by the ICS biologists and camera traps have been set in western province where is supposed to hold the largest population and around half of poaches occurred there, namely Oshtoran Kouh Protected Area. Other than the Persian leopard, the largest carnivore in Iran also suffers serious poaching in the area. Brown bears have been subject to regular killing by local people. Last year, a training workshop was held by the ICS in Lorestan DoE for local experts about the leopard.
Again, another training workshop was held by the ICS biologists in early February in the province to describe ecology and status of the Persian leopard and brown bear in the area. Attended by more than 65 local experts and game wardens, the half-day workshop was officially opened by the DoE’s provincial manager. At the end of the workshop, results of interview surveys conducted by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) since November 2010 in the province were shared with the game wardens and experts. The project is a joint effort between the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) and Iranian Department of Environment (DoE) in Lorestan with partial funding provided by the Amersfoort Zoo (the Netherlands) and will last with more capacity building and educational programs during 2011 in northern Lorestan province.
The endangered Persian leopard has recently attracted numerous research efforts in Iran; however, it is highly important that research projects support and improve the conservation status of the cat
A popular article about grey wolves in Iran has been recently published in
In order to educate local people the cheetah and its habitat, educational tours were organized within cheetah habitat in Kalmand, southern Yazd in a joint effort by Yazd Department of Environment and Mehriz Office of Education, led by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS). A total of 70 students and teachr
A training workshop was held in Lahijan Azad University, northern Iran to enhance professional knowledge among students and experts. Attended by more than 50 undergraduate and graduate students of natural resources and biodiversity as well as Gilan Department of Environment
Caravan of Cheetah Show arrived in Miandasht, northeastern Iran where is one of the most important habitats for the species in Asia. The Cheetah Show was performed in three main human settlements, namely as Sankhast town and Azadvar and Farashin villages. These communities are considered to have great interaction with the reserve, as they have a number of poachers as well as herders and shepherds who visit the area periodically. Miandasht is allowed to be grazed by around 15000 heads of livestock which are mainly from these communities and they visit parts of the area during winter. So, the educational program was designed to be before 2010-2011 grazing season to increase their knowledge about the cheetah and other wildlife species and to help them how to avoid any conflict with the carnivores.
Accordingly, three festivals were organized in three mentioned sites and all were hosted by local authorities. Local people including herders, hunters, farmers, students and authorities attended the festivals which each was officially opened by representatives of the Iranian Department of Environment (DoE). Meanwhile, a number of matches were held for students and a variety of educational materials were distributed among attendants. Finally, remains of recently poached gazelles which have been confiscated by the area
As starting the New Year, we are committed to share with you, definitely, the happiest moment for us at the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) at the end of 2010 as the Year of Leopard in Iran! This is the story: Since early 2010, ICS has been producing a documentary movie about the Persian leopard in Iran. Recently, the ICS film crew was successful to capture an impressive long shot of an adult male in Golestanak Reserve! The area hosts intensive research programs on brown bear as well as the leopard since 2005 (you can read about this study on Persian Leopard Newsletter, volume 3, August 2010). After continuous tracking by the biologists, a passive HD camera trap designed by an Iranian technician was quite helpful to trap the animal while exhibiting his territorial behavior. The animal is on a scrape, urinating and defecating, and then it sniffs and licks another scrape, possibly to find a mate! It was a big success for all of us before the end of 2010 as the year of leopard in Iran and encourages our film crew to work much more to produce a prestigious movie. We would like to thanks you all for any kind of supporting and wish you peace and prosperity this holiday. Season’s greetings and merry Christmas to our in-holiday friends!
The Persian leopard on the film
