Iran wants to learn cheetah management from India, population is declining rapidly, revealed in RTI:

News Topical, Digital Desk : The cheetah population in Iran is declining rapidly. Iran is constantly working to save the cheetah population. The information received from the RTI revealed that Iran has shown interest in learning cheetah management from India. Rajesh Gopal, chairman of the government's Cheetah Project Steering Committee, shared this information during a meeting of the panel in February. "In a recent meeting, Iranian officials have expressed their interest in learning cheetah management in India," Rajesh Gopal was quoted as saying in the meeting details. He also suggested that the India-led initiative, the International Big Cat Alliance, could reach out to other cheetah range countries interested in learning about cheetah conservation and management.

Iran wants to learn cheetah management from India

However, when asked if Iran has formally approached India in this regard, a senior official of the National Tiger Conservation Authority said, "There is no such proposal at this time." The government's "Action Plan for Introducing Cheetahs to India" also mentions that India would be willing to assist Iran and the global conservation community in efforts to protect the critically endangered Iranian cheetah. The cheetah is the only large carnivore that became extinct in India, mainly due to excessive hunting and habitat loss. The last known cheetah in the country died in 1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh's Korea district.

12 cheetahs were brought to India

Let us tell you that India had started discussions with the Shah of Iran in the 1970s to bring Asiatic cheetahs to India in exchange for Asiatic lions. However, given the small population of Asiatic cheetahs in Iran and the genetic similarity between Iranian and African cheetahs, it was later decided to reintroduce the African species. Since September 2022, India has relocated 20 African cheetahs as part of its globally-seen reintroduction programme. It brought eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa to India. It is now set to receive eight more cheetahs from Botswana in two phases, the first four of which are expected to arrive by May this year.

Cheetah population is vanishing in Iran

In January 2022 an Iranian minister told state media that the number of cheetahs had declined from about 100 in 2010 to just 12. According to researchers at the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), a Tehran-based conservation NGO, more than 400 Asiatic cheetahs roamed a large area of eastern and central Iran in the mid-1970s. Despite receiving legal protection in the 1960s, cheetahs in Iran face threats including the decline of their primary prey species, habitat loss and fragmentation, human-wildlife conflict, especially since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Iran–Iraq War. Researchers say much of the cheetah's remaining habitat in Iran is also rich in mineral resources, while international sanctions on Iran have caused economic difficulties, leading some people to turn to illegal and unregulated hunting of game animals.