Asiatic cheetah extinction trend reversed
TEHRAN, Dec. 06 (MNA) – UN resident coordinator in Iran has said cooperation between Department of Environment and the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project has reversed the extinction trend among Asiatic cheetahs.
Gary Lewis who was addressing the ceremony to celebrate the International Cheetah Day (December 5) on Saturday, told the meeting that the ceremony celebrated 12 years of cooperation with Iran’s Department of Environment in protection of Asiatic cheetah; “during the last 12 years, the UN came to help us in installing trap cameras in cheetah habitats; the aid also proved effective in extending the scope of the protection, which drastically reversed the down-hill extinction curve now into a flat,” Lewis added.
“We have the opportunity now to save Asiatic cheetahs and their habitat, and the UN will provide Iran’s government with any help needed; in the past decade, the UN pumped $10mn into the project, and has actually on the agenda increasing the aid allocated to the project CACP (the Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project),” Lewis told the meeting, however adding that no precise figures had been announced for new pledges, and that he was doing necessary arrangements for securing a lump sum.
Masoumeh Ebtekar, Head of Department of Environment, also addressed the meeting in a brief speech; “our trap cameras had revealed the rising number of cubs up to 18, which is the outcome of a collective attempt by CACP, Department of Environment, local public, and the UN experts; Pardisan Park of Tehran is now home to a couple; and we now receive expert information from international large cat consultants to bring under control the couple’s behavior,” she said. “We are very hopeful to see the couple’s mating and birth of at least a cub after a miscarriage which squandered the genetically valuable cub months ago.”
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