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Grey Wolf with Unknown Kill in Khojir National Park

Jan 2006- An impressive scene of a grey wolf with its kill was pictured in Khojir National Park, eastern Tehran. The animal has passed in front of the infrared motion in heat camera and then back with its kill which is not yet clearly identified. However, it seems that the wolf has caught a small carnivore, probably a jackal. It was pictured under the Khojir Carnivore Research Project which has been launched since early 2005. Led by Morteza Eslami as the only member of the IUCN/SSC Hyena Specialist Group in Iran, the project aims to study on three large-sized carnivores, including striped hyena, wolf and leopard inside a human pressured habitat on their population and interaction. The striped hyena has drawn the main attention in this survey which is also a main sympatric carnivore inside all the cheetah habitats in Iran. During the past few years, a minimum of 8 hyenas have been killed in road accidents inside the park which reveals an urgent need for more survey and conservation. Unfortunately, a camera trap was stolen in September, apparently by the local people who look for pistachio in late summer.
Since 2001, ICS has conducted several field-based surveys inside various habitats on carnivores in order to prepare a basis of knowledge about the Iranian various unknown carnivores, including cheetah, leopard, hyena, wolf, etc. The Khojir Project which is the oldest in ICS, initiated in winter 2002 with wild sheep population dynamics, then switched to the carnivores since last year.      
Neighboring the capital of Tehran, Khojir National Park is the oldest reserve in Iran. However, due to human population increasing, the park is seriously under pressure. The area is one of the last habitats for Alborz Red Sheep which posses a population of a few hundred and once was considered to be a cheetah range.