Iran wants to learn from India's cheetah revival efforts: RTI

New Delhi: Iran, working to save its rapidly declining cheetah population, has shown interest in learning cheetah management from India, according to information received through an RTI application.

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," the minutes of the meeting quoted Gopal as saying.

He also suggested that the International Big Cat Alliance, an India-led initiative, could reach out to other cheetah range countries interested in learning about cheetah conservation and management.

However, when asked if Iran had formally approached India in this regard, a senior official of the National Tiger Conservation Authority said, "There is no such proposal at this juncture." The government's "Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetahs in 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, primarily due to over-hunting and habitat loss. The last known cheetah in the country died in 1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh's Koriya district.

India began discussions with the Shah of Iran in the 1970s to bring the Asiatic cheetah to India in exchange for Asiatic lions. However, considering the small population of Asiatic cheetahs in Iran and the genetic similarity between the Iranian and African cheetahs, it was later decided to use the African species for reintroduction.

Since September 2022, India has translocated 20 African cheetahs -- eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa -- as part of its globally watched reintroduction programme.

It is now set to receive eight more cheetahs from Botswana in two phases, with the first four expected by May this year.

Once found across central and southwest Asia, the Asiatic cheetah now survives only in Iran. Experts estimate fewer than 30 remain in the wild.

In January 2022, an Iranian minister told state media that the population had dropped to just 12 from around 100 in 2010.

According to researchers at the Tehran-based conservation NGO Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), up to 400 Asiatic cheetahs roamed a large area of eastern and central Iran in the mid-1970s.

Despite receiving legal protection in the 1960s, the cheetahs in Iran have continued to face threats due to a decline in their primary prey species, habitat loss and fragmentation, human-wildlife conflict, especially after the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war.

Researchers say most of the remaining cheetah habitats in Iran are also rich in mineral resources while international sanctions on Iran have caused economic hardships, pushing some people towards illegal and unregulated hunting of prey animals.