Iran’s environment department hoped to bring the critically endangered species back from the brink

Iranians opposed to the regime see the third cub’s death as another example of official incompetence

LONDON: Just a matter of decades ago, cheetahs boasted habitats from the eastern reaches of India to
the Atlantic coast of Senegal. Today, the world’s fastest land animal, capable of reaching speeds of 120
kilometers per hour, is considered critically endangered.

That is why news of the death of Iran’s only Asiatic cheetah cub born in captivity has been met with such
sorrow among wildlife conservationists and the Iranian public, who have long attached cultural and
social significance to these magnificent animals.

Pirouz, which means victorious in Farsi, was the only survivor of his litter of three endangered Asiatic
cheetahs. The cub died on Tuesday, aged 10 months, at Tehran’s Central Veterinary Hospital despite
days of treatment for kidney failure, according to local media.

Omid Moradi, the hospital’s director, told Iran’s official IRNA news agency: “The loss of Pirouz and
ineffectiveness of all the efforts made by the treatment team in the past few days to save the animal
saddens me and all my colleagues.