“If you are keen to see some stunning shots of the Asiatic cheetahs in extremely arid areas of Iran or massive Persian leopards in highlands, visit ICS on “youtube” to see these iconic species within their natural habitats in Iran. Besides monitoring Iran’s cats, the ICS is producing documentary films in order to spread the knowledge in the communities about the species and their survival. All these shots have been captured since 2011 using camera traps. You can see group life of the Asiatic cheetahs as well as their signing behavior together with Persian leopards. Also, educational clips are also added.
“People’s Trust for Endangered Species” has been supporting the Iranian Cheetah Society for a number of years through its worldwide grants programme. This work on Persian leopards is an important part of PTES’ wider ‘Saving Big Cats and Wild Dogs’ campaign focusing on the world’s most threatened carnivores. Please visit www.savingcatsanddogs.org for the latest on carnivore conservation across the globe and how you can help.“
“During a one year monitoring program in Bafq Protected Area in central Iran, eleven Persian leopards were identified, including four males and four females (two of them are accompanied by a single and twin cubs). Moreover, one of single females was filmed accompanied by an adult male which can be indication of breeding of the third female in the population Initiated since January 2012 until the end of year, a one year camera trapping program was implemented by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) and Yazd Department of Environment in partnership with CACP and Panthera to understand population composition and dynamism of the Asiatic cheetah and the Persian leopard across multiple reserves in central country, including Bafq.
It is not common to record two different families of the leopards in a single area in west Asia which reveals high potential of the area to re-colonize surrounding habitats, if properly protected. According to recent findings, the female with two cubs has been successful to raise her cubs until independence and her last image shows that she is now solitary, probably looking around to find a mate for the next year. Moreover, both of her independent offsprings have been confirmed to be female, reaching to 6 female leopards in a single reserve, assuming that all four females are still alive.
Recently, Samimi, one of the Bafq Governor Office authorities declared that the area is not enough worthy to protect it and “we believe that with no more than two leopards and 6 cheetahs, Bafq Protected Area does not have high environmental importance to continue its protection as a reserve”.
In contrast, investigations have relevaed that the largest single population of the endangered Persian leopard in central country occurs in Bafq and it is seldom to expect only six females in an area elsewhere in west Asia.
Established in 1996, the 850 km2 Bafq Protected Area is one of the main habitats for various cats in Iran which recently is suffering a great challenge to construct a road just through the area for easieمغ accessibility.
It is now more than one year, the Iranian Cheetah Society, Yazd DoE and Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) are negotiating with communities and authorities and huge media coverage has been brought to stop the road.
Undoubtedly, Bafq road is nowadays the largest concern for Iranian environmentalists for the survival of the Asiatic cheetahs and Persian leopards.
“Iran’s 12th International Environment Exhibition was held between 19 and 22 December 2012 in Tehran which was attended by various Iranian NGOs, including Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS). Welcomed by visitors, the ICS experts presented information about latest status of the Asiatic cheetahs in Iran and provided various educational materials. “How many cheetahs live in Iran” was the single most dominant question being asked by the people, due to recent debate in the Iranian media on the species population status, raised based on ongoing camera trapping efforts ICS is running in multiple cheetah reserves in the country. The exhibition was visited by many high-raking Iranian authorities, including a number of ministers and DoE’s head. The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) is grateful to many volunteers and staffs who were actively involved in the event, particularly Yasaman Hasanbeygi, Mahmoud Maleki, Morteza Pourmirzaei, Kaveh Hobeali, Ehsan Bahrami, Fatemeh Hemmati, Marzieh Dehghan, Sara Asgarnia, Hasti Akbarzadeh, Amirali Bakhtiari and Ehsan Bahrami.“
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