Urgent action is needed to stop the cheetah - the world's fastest land animal - sprinting to extinction, experts have warned.
Scientists
estimate that just 7100 of the fleet-footed cats remain in the wild,
occupying just 9 per cent of the territory they once lived in.
Asiatic
populations have been hit the hardest with fewer than 50 individuals
surviving in Iran, according to a new investigation led by the
Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS).
In Zimbabwe, cheetah numbers have plummeted 85 per cent in little more than a decade.
The
cheetah's dramatic decline has now prompted calls for the animal's
status to be upgraded from "vulnerable" to "endangered" on the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List of
threatened species.
Dr
Sarah Durant, from ZSL and WCS, project leader for the Rangewide
Conservation Programme for Cheetah and African Wild Dog, said: "This
study represents the most comprehensive analysis of cheetah status to
date. Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat, it has been
difficult to gather hard information on the species, leading to its
plight being overlooked. Our findings show that the large space
requirements for cheetah, coupled with the complex range of threats
faced by the species in the wild, mean that it is likely to be much more
vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought."
The
cheetah is one of the world's most wide-ranging carnivores and needs a
lot of space. Partly because of this, 77 per cent of its remaining
habitat falls outside protected areas.
The cats have suffered as a
result of humans hunting their prey, habitat loss, illegal trafficking
of cheetah parts, and the exotic pet trade, say the researchers writing
in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11773542
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