May 2007- The first phase of educational project for local students in Bafq Protected Area aiming at increasing awareness about the critically endangered Iranian cheetah has been successfully finished. Started since mid 2006 in 2 phases, the cheetah educational project has been focusing on education of senior high school students about the cheetah and other large carnivores of the area.

As the first step, a network of local stakeholders has been formed in order to collaborate in implementation of educational activities in 2 main fields, students and herders.  The students are now able to identify the cheetah as well as other large carnivores, including leopard, wolf and hyena and have learned about the animals’ life and status. As a result of general education for the students, an elite group of 50 enthusiastic students are now chosen by themselves to learn more practically in the second year about the cheetah, visiting the cheetah habitat and helping to share the cheetah knowledge with the other local people.

As another main target group, the herders who possess the highest encounter with the cheetah which sometimes lead to killing the animal are going to be educated about the cheetah. According to surveys done in the area, Bafq Protected Area is one of few areas out of several Iranian cheetah habitats where the cheetahs are surely in direct conflict with livestock and there are a considerable amount of cheetah attacks on domestic animals. On the other hand, most of the livestock killings occur in nighttime darkness when the killer in charge is hardly seen by the herders and since the cheetah is a famous animal among the local people at the moment, most of the kills are related to the animal by the local herders. Accordingly, immediate educational practices are needed to increase the awareness about the cheetah and how to identify the cheetah and other large carnivores in order to prevent eradication of the critically endangered cheetahs.

Located in central province of Yazd, Bafq Protected Area has an area of more than 150,000 hectares with an estimated population of 15 cheetahs. On the other hand, the area has had the highest human-induced mortality during the past decade, at least 1.5 animals per year, mainly due to lack of awareness about the cheetah and the fear of being an enemy to the human and its properties. Aiming at removing incorrect believes about the cheetah, the Bafq Cheetah Educational Project hopes to find sustainable ways to save the flagship creature from extinction with participation of local people.

January 2006- Various leopard pictures are our new year gift from our Persian leopard project in Iran obtained during a camera trapping survey inside the national park since October 2006. After the tragic loss of a huge male leopard in Sarigol NP in August NP to poachers, the new round of camera trapping survey has been initiated in order to obtain a reliable estimation on the leopard density and population composition inside the national park. So far, 12 pictures from the leopards have been captured revealing a healthy and dynamic population roaming across the park and surrounding mountainous habitats. All the images have been taken in nighttime darkness, mainly from males. Fortunately, the camera trapping period is on peak of the leopards rutting season in January and February when they are most active during the year to find a mate and possibly establish a territory for themselves.

At the moment, 15 DeerCam passive camera trap are covering more than 60 square kilometers until February 2007 and we hope to be able to capture between 7 to 10 different individuals as our preliminary estimation based on numerous measures during the past 18 months of tracking throughout the national park. We hope that capture-mark and recapture can help us to reach a reliable and scientific density for the leopards in Sarigol. 

Beside biological aspect, a network of local stakeholders have been formed, including local GOs and NGOs in order to launch a public awareness campaign in communities around the national park. Educational efforts have been allocated to 9 villages neighboring the national park where posses the livestock and poaching problems. More than 600 primary and junior high school students are the main targets who are going to learn about their nearby leopards in winter and spring 2007 by 10 local tutors.

Initiated since March 2005, the Project Persian Leopard in Sarigol National Park has been continued in 2006 by BP Conservation Program till mid 2007, aimed at developing a good base of knowledge about the less-known Persian leopard and planning a conservation program to ensure the species’ survival inside one of the last habitats in the country. Moreover, studies on wild cat Felis ornata are undergoing with hardware support of Small Cat Alliance inside the park at the same time.

October 2006- In collaboration with the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), local people in Bafq protected support the educational programs to save the last remains of the Iranian cheetah inside its highest density habitat in the country.

During this educational programs which has been launched since summer 2006, there will be various activities to increase the awareness of different local target groups, including students, teachers, herders, villagers and hunters. In order to start the project, local authorities attention and collaboration have been drawn during joint sessions to present the educational programs and a local core group has been formed, composed of 2 local NGOs and representatives of different main governmental organizations.

Prior to the main public awareness campaign, 3 capacity building workshops were held by ICS, aiming to empower the people involved in this plan inside the cheetah habitats with participants from ICS, local NGOs, the Department of the Environment, Governor’s office, etc. Participants from the ICS along with their local colleagues could get many information and abilities on collaboration and interaction with local communities. During the last workshop in September 2006 in Bafq, the people got lots of knowledge on different approaches to work with local communities, stakeholders analysis, facilitating skills, different techniques for communication with people and gathering information which each skill/technique was actively practiced in teams.

Located in central province of Yazd, Bafq Protected Area has the highest density of the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah in the country with an estimated population of at least 15 animals. On the other hand, the area has been witnessed the highest human-oriented mortality among its cheetah population, at least 1.5 cheetahs per year since 1994. The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) plans to increase local people’s knowledge about the cheetah and other species during a 2 years educational program to reduce the mortality due to lack of awareness.