Educational Manuals for Persian Leopards

In order to educate local people around the Persian leopard habitats in Iran, educational manuals have been published by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS). Targeting students at two different educational levels, namely primary and junior high schools, the manuals are designed based on local circumstances of Sarigol National Park where has been one of the main sits of leopard research and educational programs by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) since 2005. The readers will learn various aspects of the Persian leopard through games, puzzles, stories, etc.

New Hope for Persian Leopard in Baluchestan

Finally, an adult Persian leopard was captured by camera traps in main core of Birk Protected Area in Iranian Baluchestan. The adult male was photo trapped on late May 2009 in southeastern Iran, close to Pakistan border. According to the images, the animal is injured on his right eye and it seems that he is relied only on left eyesight. Initiated since winter 2008, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) empowered local game guards to conduct Persian leopard surveys.

Encyclopedia of Iranian Wildlife

The first encyclopedia of the Iranian wildlife was published by Talaee Publication Co. with close scientific cooperation of the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS). Focused on the Iranian vertebrates, this colorful handbook was published in 367 pages in May 2009 as a result of efforts of more than 10 Iranian zoologists, mostly from the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) and 22 wildlife photographers for nearly three years. The aim of this book is to introduce the rich biodiversity of country to public in order to increase knowledge on the Iranian wildlife.  The encyclopedia of Iranian wildlife was published in Farsi.

Raptors of Open Plains

Despite of small size, Miandasht Wildlifer Refuge holds relatively high diversity of avifauna in northeastern Iran. Among more than 70 species of birds in this reserve, around 10 different species of raptors have been identified during more than half decade surveys by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) in this area. Recently, a scientific paper has been published in the West Asian Ornithological Journal Podoces about the most abundant raptor in this area, long-legged buzzard.

ICS Co-Founder Received the Future for Nature Award 2009 

Mohammad Farhadinia was awarded the 2009 Future for Nature Award at the Burger Zoo, Arnhem (Netherlands). Mohammad was selected due to his efforts on behalf of the cheetah and the leopard in Iran. The award was presented by Sir David Attenborough and the chair of the Future for Nature Foundation, Herman Rijksen, at a ceremony held at the zoo on the 20th March. A total of 148 wildlife conservationists from 56 countries around the world participated in the competition. Only three outstanding individuals received this honour.

A Leopard Was Photographed in the Iranian Baluchestan

An adult Persian leopard was photographed on late March in Birk Protected Area, near the Iran-Pakistan border. The area has been one of the main habitats in southeastern country where it was supposed to be a leopard refuge. Meanwhile, due to remoteness of the area and lack of security because of drug smugglers, no intensive survey has been implemented in this area.  Since winter 2008, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) initiated the first leopard survey in southeastern Iran to identify the leopard range. .

Destiny of Persian Leopard in Iran

During 2008, at least 13 Persian leopards were killed in Iran due to various human-related factors which direct killing accounted for 12 (92%) of mortalities. This high mortality rate of the leopards implies critical status of the significant big cat in the country and alarms a gloomy future for the endangered Persian Leopard. Meanwhile, high mortality rate of leopards in recent years sometimes has been interpreted as an indicator of population increasing and good status by some of the Iranian experts.

The Oldest Iranian Wildlife Website

As the oldest Iranian environmental website, Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) website is still alive. Registered and ran firstly in 2003 as www.iraniancheetah.org, it has also been available as www.wildlife.ir since 2008 due to development in the ICS' scope of activities from Asiatic cheetah to vast diversity of the Iranian wildlife.  We are now proud that we have been announcing our latest news and outcomes through the website for more than half a decade and it has now emerged as a portal for the Iranian wildlife news in Iran as well as abroad. According to Google Ranking, ICS website gets 5 out of 10 scores which is the highest amongst the Iranian environmental websites, except the Iranian Department of Environment with 6. Most of international well-known wildlife organizations’ websites get something around 6 out of 10. While over 15 percent of visits to this website belong to out-of-country users, still a high proportion of logs to the website are from inside the country. During 2008, there were over 20 news, reports and articles uploaded to the website concerning the ICS' activities, which indicates dynamic efforts of this non-governmental organization. At present, the ICS website is updating Iranian wildlife news as a wildlife portal website.

Where to Find the Asiatic Cheetahs

It has been widely believed that the Asiatic cheetah occurs wherever gazelles exist. However, most of the present cheetah main habitat in Iran has a low density of gazelles, although there are neighboring high-density gazelle areas without cheetahs. We found that cover has been usually ignored as an essential need for its hunting success and thus its survival. We propose to conduct more surveys in habitats which provide both food and cover to cheetahs. To read more about this issue, click here to download the paper.
 

A Chance for Persian Leopard

A young leopard which came inside a village probably in search for food in Mazandaran province, northern Iran, was anesthetized and captured by the Iranian Department of the Environment (DoE) in September 2008. The animal was trapped inside a coral which villagers informed game guards to rescue the small cub. The animal was then moved to Semeskandeh Wildlife Refuge for treatment of slight injuries cause during capturing in order to being recovered. Meanwhile, nothing is known about the mother and it is reported that the animal was alone. However, it is quite aggressive toward people and is kept inside a small cage at the moment.