Global News - June 2008

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US and Iranian scientists unite to save cheetahs

Fri 20 June 2008 14:00 UK — Asia,Big Cats

Wildlife experts from the US and Iran have joined forces to try to save rare cheetahs in the Middle Eastern country.

Despite the fact the two nations are locked in a dispute over Iran's alleged nuclear programme, conservationists from the Middle East and the US are working together to safeguard the endangered Asiatic cheetah.

Between 60 and 100 of the cheetahs are left in the wild, with many living in the Kuh-e Bafgh protected area in Yazd province in central Iran.

A joint project from the Iranian department of environment (DoE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been launched to save the animals.

One Australian conservationist, working in the US, suggested that the cheetahs were more important than political problems.

"This is a wonderful case of the urgent conservation needs of the cheetah transcending political differences," he told Reuters in an email.

Ali Akhbar Karimi, a 59-year-old veteran from Iran's DoE in Yazd province, added: "I love anybody who works for conservation and wildlife protection. It doesn't matter who it is."

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