According to a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), is down to 7,100 individuals remaining worldwide, most of them in Africa and, rarely, in Asia.
The new study asks the IUCN to change the status of cheetah from "vulnerable" to "endangered" in an effort to protect cheetahs. The IUCN lists both the Northwest African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) and the Asiatic cheetah as "critically endangered" in their Red List.
The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) has been nearly eliminated in Asia; under 50 Iranian cheetahs remain. The cheetah subspecies went extinct in India more than fifty years ago, says International Business Times.
‘Arash’ and ‘Pouyan’ are still roaming in Naybandan
[article and photographs from the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS]
During August-September 2016, the ICS researchers surveyed Naybandan Wildlife Refuge in South Khorasan Province. Out of 52 camera traps set up over the reserve, about 70% of them were placed at water points. In total, 31 cheetah photographs and 9 videos were obtained during the present survey. All the cheetah photographs were captured in Naybandan’s core zone. Analysing the cheetah photographs, the ICS researchers could identify two male cheetahs we have photographed in the reserve since 2012, known to us as ‘Arash’ and ‘Pouyan’.
As far as the organization of this blog goes--like, how many pictures will be posted a day, how many articles, big cats for days of the week etc--just give me a little bit of time to figure that out. My health is kind of slowly improving from where it was right now and while that happens I’d like to do my own research again so I’m not as rusty, then I’ll try my hardest to get this place up and running again! Thank you all for staying with me as long as you have, I appreciate each and every single one of you <3Â
And here’s a really long and overly emotional explanation as to why.
If you’ve followed me for a while or care about the content I post you’ve probably noticed that my blog isn’t as strong as it used to be. That’s a huge understatement, I haven’t posted anything on here in..months, and even before that the stream of pictures and articles was very inconsistent and slow. And yes, this mainly started when the aspiring-nonprofit I was in broke up (which, BCN did, in case it wasn’t obvious yet). It really left me...sad, disenchanted, and disappointed with my work. Â
Big cats have never been just pretty pictures to me. I run this blog because I want people to appreciate their beauty, yes, but I also want them to see the smaller, lesser known guys. I want people to feel the presence of these animals and be aware that they are a vital part to our ecosystem, and they are irreplaceable. Above all, my main goal has been to educate people and let them know that big cats need help--most species are dying out in the wild.Â
I felt like I was just a child with a dream too big back then, and I’m only 16 now...so looking back on it, that is true in a sense. But I never stopped loving cats, I just thought I wasn’t doing enough so I took the easy way out and gave up.Â
My aspired career has always been a tossup between wildlife conservationist and politician--and I know, those two things can’t get further apart. I’ve loved both since the same age, I’ve had equal interest in one another--though today I realized one thing sets the two apart, tips the scale. I have fun and I am inspired when I talk about wild cats. I could talk about them for hours--and have, and it never gets boring. And it fills my heart with such hope when I realize maybe I stopped someone from buying a pet serval or petting a tiger cub. But politics just stresses me out, causes fights, can ruin friendships.Â
Not that I think politics are bad, but I...really do not believe it would be the most suitable of the two for me. The capitalistic american system inherently goes against all my beliefs so I’d spend most of my time just trying to get a seat somewhere that made a difference. And most importantly, I’m sure there are tons of kids my age who aspire to be progressive activists with the same viewpoints as myself. So let those with more determination in that field do what I wished I could.Â
There are species of wild cats going extinct that people don’t even KNOW about. And I want to be that one person who finally sheds light on them. I want to make the biggest difference I can, and I believe that would be for big cats.Â
and disclaimer, I’m young, obviously I don’t have to choose right now. But this is my thinking process at the moment. Just getting it out there, because I missed you guys and I wanted you to know that I haven’t abandoned these felines we love so much.
