One of the last remaining specimens of the endangered Asiatic cheetah has died in Iran. An animal named “Homino” died in central Iran at the age of 12, state radio reported on Saturday evening. Accordingly, park rangers found the animal in a wildlife park in the central province of Jasd. The Asian cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is a subspecies of cheetah and is only found in Iran.
On social media, many Iranians were dismayed but also angry. At the end of February, a ten-month-old cheetah named Pirus died of kidney failure.
The exact number of the last copies is not known. At the beginning of last year, the authorities still spoke of around a dozen of the predators. In mid-June, the ISNA news agency, citing the Iranian animal protection organization ICS, which works to protect the endangered species, reported that the number of animals had increased. However, the report did not give exact figures.
Iranian environmental and animal rights activists have been warning of the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah for years. A UN project is also committed to preserving the subspecies. Numerous environmental activists in Iran have been sentenced to long prison terms for their political activities in the past.
