Hi! Do you know Marita?
She was an Iranian 10 years old cheetah lived in Pardisan Park, Tehran. Marita was the most alone cheetah in the world with no mate nor friend. Here you can read her story and know Marita.

 Marita's Story

In spring 1994, my mom gave birth to three beautiful female cubs in a lair in plains near the city of Bafq, central Iran. She named us Micky, Macky and Marita. We loved our mom, played around her and tried to bite her white-tipped tail. She was so patient and took care of us.

Summer came, the weather became so hot and we were growing up happily. Sometimes we saw a lizard or hare and tried to catch it, but almost we never could without mom's help. Everyday, Mom walked long distances to bring us food which was usually wild sheep or gazelle. She ran so fast and we were proud of her.

Our habitat was so dry and at the end of summer, most of springs dried out and there was no water to drink. My mom looked for everywhere for water, but ... no success. So, one morning she told us that we have to go to the people's city in nearby, because the people are so kind and would surely let us drink some water. We became so happy, because we thought that the problem would be over. So, all of us followed our mom toward the city of Bafq. As arriving at the suburb, I heard the sound of a spring and found it inside a palm garden. All of us jumped into the water and began to drink. Mom was looking around and I could see upset ness in her brown eyes.

While drinking water, suddenly we heard a horrible sound, I looked around and saw several young men attacking toward us with stone and stick. Macky cried and fell down inside the water, I saw that the water's color changed to red because of Macky's  bleeding in her head. I and Micky jumped out of the water and hided behind mom's legs. The young men shut and attacked toward mom and made her to run away. But we could not follow her and were left there without refuge. Micky was wounded in her shoulder and her hand was bleeding, too. Fortunately, game guards who are in charge of saving animals reached to the place and saved us. They brought a veterinarian, but unfortunately Micky's wounds was serious ... she died. It was terrible because I was alone among the people. They sent me to Pardisan Park in Tehran.

I was alone there and usually I spoke with crws flying over my large enclosure. I lived there for less than 10 years and finally, in winter of 2003, I closed my eyes forever!

This is Marita, the ambassador of cheetahs in Iran to the people worldwide. Apparently, she does not breathe anymore nor she can run! But she is always alive trying her best to do her mission to inform people about the gloomy future of her sisters and brothers.

This was based on a true story happened in summer 1994 in central Iran. The local people had no idea about the cheetahs and considered it as a dangerous creature. Today, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) is hard working to educate the local people around the cheetah habitats exactly at the same place where Marita and her family were attacked. We hope that our efforts would prevent such tragedies in the future and save the cheetahs forever.