Threatened with extinction Only 17 Asiatic cheetahs left worldwide
The Asiatic cheetah is on the brink of extinction. While Iran's authorities promise more protection, critics accuse the government of failing.
02.03.2025, 19:15
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Asiatic cheetahs are as good as extinct.
- According to Iranian authorities, there are only 17 left in the world.
- Critics accuse the Iranian authorities of not doing enough to protect the endangered animals.
According to Iranian authorities, there are only 17 specimens of the endangered Asiatic cheetah left in the world. "We need the cooperation of various institutions to protect these animals," said the head of the state environmental authority, Shina Ansari, according to the Irna news agency.
Asiatic cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) are a subspecies of cheetah and can only be found in Iran. According to the environmental protection organization WWF, there are five subspecies, with most of the world's 6,600 cheetahs living in South Africa.
More protection decided
Ansari made his comments on the sidelines of a ceremony to mark the signing of a cooperation agreement between the environmental protection organization and the traffic police. This is intended to ensure better protection for the big cats in the Turan sanctuary in the north-eastern province of Semnan.
The region is one of the most important habitats for Asiatic cheetahs in Iran. Time and again, animals have tragically died on highways there. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the number of cheetahs in Iran was estimated at 60 to 100 animals in 2007.
Death of an Asiatic cheetah triggers national outcry
In February 2023, a ten-month-old cheetah named Pirus died of kidney failure in Iran. The case caused great sadness and outrage. The animal species is a national symbol that also adorns works of art. Iran competed in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups with the symbol of an Asiatic cheetah on its jersey.
Iranian environmental and animal rights activists have been warning for years about the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah. A UN project is also working to preserve the subspecies. Numerous environmental activists in Iran have been sentenced to long prison terms in the past for their political activities. Critics accuse the authorities of not doing enough to protect the endangered animals.
Cheetah reintroduction attempts in India
The Asiatic cheetah was once native to various regions in Southwest and Central Asia as far as India. It was wiped out in India around 70 years ago. In 2022 and 2023, a total of 20 cheetahs were brought from Namibia and South Africa to India in order to re-establish a free-ranging population there - consisting of African cheetahs, not Asiatic cheetahs.
There was criticism of this, including from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin. The Indian Kuno National Park, with its 750 square kilometers - about 17 by 44 kilometers - is very small for a cheetah population. Cheetahs live in a socially stable spatial system with widely separated territories. According to Indian media reports from February, only three of the cheetahs brought over from Africa are now actually living in the wild.