“Finally, the last issue of Persian Leopard Newsletter was published in May 2011. The newsletter was continuously compiled during 2010 as “Year of Leopard” in Iran and was sent to more than 1000 experts across the world. In this issue, a fully story about various activities done on local, national and international level to save the Persian leopards has been presented. Also, an analysis about human-caused mortalities of the animal has been provided. The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) published the newsletter on a bi-monthly basis to address international community to about the status of this endangered cat in Iran.
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“Fifth issue of Persian Leopard Newsletter is released. You read the following topics on the newsletter:
- Greetings from the Persian Leopards in Iran!
- Persian Leopard Food Habits in Golestan National Park
- Conservation Model for the Persian Leopard
- Biodiversity Education in Kalmand, Central Iran
- Bafq Protected Area
- Fatal Encounter in Gilan
The Persian Leopard Newsletter is bi-monthly electronic magazine composing of the latest activities, projects, and events on the largest existing cat in Iran, published by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) to celebrate 2010 as the year of the leopard in Iran. You can download the issue as well as previous ones on “Year of Leopard” section on the ICS website.”
“One year after the start of “Capacity Building of Local Community to Conserve Persian Leopard in Caucasus Eco-Region” project, it has just entered the assessment of leopard conflict status with local people in northern Iran, lying within the Caucasus Eco-Region.
In this project, it is considered to design solution and action for conflict management with local community participation as one of the first experience of using participatory approach to mitigate human wildlife conflict in Iran.
After assessing public attitude toward leopard, this project was entered understanding livelihood of local community phase that is at end of its way. In this phase, social and natural map of villages were drawn by local people. The seasonal calendar technique was also utilized to know the pattern of lives and livelihood of villagers during a year. To complete this step, the project team has already conducted regular field missions to hold meetings with local herders, elders, vulnerable groups and other different groups of local community.
It is worth mentioning that Persian leopard as the biggest cat in Iran is endangered and according to IUCN 2008 assessment for subspecies, the most urgent threat is ever-increasing fragmentation into a patchy network of distant and often too small sub-populations, particularly in the Caucasus Eco-region which corridors are urgently needed to explore in order to link fragmented populations. Meanwhile, prey depletion is a major concern in Iranian Caucasus (including our project site) which results in human-leopard conflict due to livestock depredation. The present project is implemented in partnership with Iranian Department of Environment and UK’s People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES).”
Recent camera trapping in central Iran indicates that an old Persian leopard roams in Bafq Protected Area, estimated to be at least 12 to 14 years. This adult male was first recorded by camera traps in late 2004 which was a prime individual at that time. Later, he was photo-trapped regularly and he was the main star in occasional encounters with game wardens and visitors, based on spot patterns comparison. In 2007, he was equipped with GPS collar for six months by CACP, WCS and Panthera, covering most of this 850 square kilometer reserve.
Last year, the animal was still a dominant male roaming most of the reserve, indicating that he is the oldest ever identified Persian leopard in the wild.Large cats normally live no longer than 10 years in the wild, despite their significantly longer lifespan in captivity (sometimes up-to 25 years). Bafq Protected Area which is one of the main hotspots for the Persian leopard in central country is threatened due to a proposed road to be constructed through heart of the area.
Camera trap image of the dominant Persian
leopard in Bafq
Snow Leopards and Lichens in Iran 5th WildTalk Seminar
“Lichen diversity in Iran and snow leopard conservation in Afghanistan were presented to more than 60 Iranian biologists and students in the fifth Iran’s “WildTalk” seminar. Held on 26 January 2013 in Tehran, Dr Mohammad Sohrabi from Iran’s Industrial Research Organization lectured on his research findings about diversity of lichens in Iran and their application for various human usages. Afterwards, Dr Stephane Ostrowski from the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) presented results of an ongoing landscape conservation project in Afghan Pamir since 2006 which deals with various human aspects of conservation for benefit of the iconic snow leopard.
Organized by Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) in partnership with ZistBoom News Agency and Iranian Technical Publishing Company, Iran’s “WildTalk” seminars are held monthly to present two research papers on the wildlife, aiming to share expertise and experiences among Iranian experts and managers
for better nature management.“
“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.
“In Search for Persian Leopard” won two more awards in Cinema Verite Documentary Film Festival in November in Iran, making it the most outstanding ever wildlife film in Iran. Attended by more than one hundred films produced by filmmakers on a variety of topics, including environment, ICS’ Fathollah Amiri received two prestigious awards for the “Best Long Documentary” and the “Best Environmental Documentary” in Tehran.
As approaching the Iranian Presidential election in 2013, he hoped that “Let’s cross finger that presidential candidates talk not only about politics or economy, but also environment” which was highly applauded by festival closing ceremony’s audience.
The leopard film features ICS’ research biologists field works for six years to study the endangered Persian leopard in high altitudes of Alborz, northern Iran. Last February, “In Search for Persian Leopard” won the most prestigious award of the Iranian cinema, “Crystal Simorgh” as the best documentary of year, a ranking which has never been achieved by a wildlife documentary in the country. It has been effective to spread the word among Iranian community with more than 50 times of national broadcasting from IRIB. ICS film crew is now running projects to feature brown bear and Asiatic cheetah which you can find more details on the relevant webpage.“
“Traditionally Iranian culture has had a long association with wildlife which is evident within many traditional rituals. The “12-animals calendar”, inherited from the Mongol invasion of the 13th century, is just an example of this relationship. Although this calendar has now been replaced by Jalali (solar) calendars the animal signs are still thriving as a symbol of the annual ceremonies. Leopard, as the twelfth animal, is the symbol of Iranian New Year (1389) which began in the spring of 2010.
Recently, Wildlife Middle East magazine has published a report about the ICS efforts to celebrate 2010 as the year of leopard in Iran. You can download “2010: A YEAR FOR THE ENDANGERED PERSIAN LEOPARD” as a pdf here.