Morteza Pourmirzai

Many of you know me as the CEO of the Iranian Cheetah Society for the past six years. It’s with a mix of emotions that I share news of my departure. While my contract has come to an end, a more fundamental difference in vision has emerged.
I joined the ICS in 2008, as a university student fueled by a passion for conservation. Over the years, I’ve worn many hats – educator, manager, and advocate. In 2018, during a time of immense challenge for Iranian conservation, I was entrusted with the leadership of the ICS.
Those were difficult years. Arrests of conservationists cast a long shadow, and international funding dried up due to sanctions. The pandemic added another layer of hardship. Yet, through it all, our team persevered.
We knew saving the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah, with a population of fewer than 30, was a monumental task. It required a collective effort, a chorus of voices from Iran and the world. Despite the obstacles, we achieved remarkable progress.
A Safe Haven: With IUCN NL support, we secured a 5600-hectare pasture, a refuge for cheetahs.
Enhanced Monitoring: We expanded our network of camera traps, gaining invaluable insights into the cheetah situation, funded by Stichting SPOTS.
Empowering Rangers: Increased ranger numbers, improved equipment, and better rations ensured their safety and effectiveness funded by Ahmad Tea, Elite, Stichting SPOTS, etc.
Building Knowledge: Capacity-building workshops fostered a culture of conservation within local communities.
These are just some of the accomplishments that wouldn’t have been possible without your unwavering support. A special thank you goes to Simone Eckhardt, CEO of Stichting SPOTS, who has been more than a colleague – a friend who stood with us through thick and thin.
While I step away from the ICS, my commitment to the Asiatic cheetah and Iranian wildlife remains steadfast. I’ll be taking a short break to recharge, but the fire within continues to burn. I’ll be seeking new opportunities to contribute to this vital cause.
The fight for the Asiatic cheetah is far from over. But with continued dedication, this magnificent creature can have a future.

It has been 17 years since I entered the world of wildlife conservation as a volunteer and then as a professional. I have experienced many hardships, joys, failures, and successes alongside the groups I have worked with. Wildlife conservation was never meant to be easy, let alone in a country that has been severely sanctioned for 50 years and has a totalitarian government.
Although we have often grown tired, paused, and then resumed, I have been thinking about this question lately: When should we give up? While we always fail, how far should we go and at what cost should we continue? PayPal recently blocked our account for receiving donations, due to sanctions. Also, Mailchimp, closed our account without any warning, solely because we are Iranian, without allowing us to back up the 20-year-old database of subscribers and recipients. Although humanitarian and environmental activities have never been sanctioned by the U.S. government, service providers refrain from cooperating with Iran. Worse still, they do not behave professionally or respectfully towards us, or perhaps we simply do not matter. Every year, the number of international organizations interested in collaborating with us decreases, and obtaining foreign financial resources has become almost impossible.
On the personal front, due to a lack of financial resources, we have always had difficulty paying salaries, and currently, not even one full-time employee remains for the Iranian Cheetah Society.
Thinking about a situation where the government has no interest in nature conservation, and we are under pressure inside the country, and while the Asiatic cheetah is on the brink of extinction, continuing seems impossible.
We met with rangers and local communities in the cheetah habitat. They are also extremely tired and hopeless. We tried to give energy to them, but in reality, we were also spending our last shreds of hope and energy.
A few months ago, among specialists in cheetah conservation in Ethiopia, among those who face much fewer and more solvable problems, I found about how meaningless the path we have taken seems. Even the cheetah conservationists asked us “Why do you still continue? You have no chance!”
Last week, after a problem arose with our PayPal account, I couldn’t sleep for several nights. The moment we received the final email stating that our account was being permanently closed, I thought about whether we deserved this level of failure, despair, and stress. How long should we endure all this and continue? Where is the stopping point? When, after various harms from all sides, our mental health is severely threatened and stress and pressure have taken away our ability to work, where is the END?
Now, I think more seriously about giving up, and I imagine that after all these years, we are on the verge of losing our beautiful cheetah and facing final defeat. Without hope, without motivation, and without a future.

Last week, I had the honor of speaking at a TEDx event at Sharif University. My speech, titled “Running in the Darkness for the Asiatic Cheetahs,” was a deep dive into the challenging journey of trying to save the world’s most rare wildcat in a sanctioned country.
Despite the lack of budget, equipment, and comprehensive understanding of these majestic creatures, our team has been relentless in our pursuit. We are racing against time, working in the shadows to ensure the survival of the Asiatic Cheetahs, who are teetering on the brink of extinction.
Our journey has been one of resilience and hope. With limited resources, we have strived to understand these elusive creatures better, to devise effective conservation strategies. Our persistence stems from the fact that these cheetahs don’t have much time left. We have no choice but to stay hopeful because if we lose hope, even for a moment, they may be lost forever.
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to share our story and raise awareness about the plight of the Asiatic Cheetahs. Let’s all remember that every effort counts, no matter how small, in the grand scheme of conservation.

I had the honor of presenting at the second National Iranian Cheetah Day conference in Jajarm County, where I shared the latest findings and challenges of our research on the Asiatic Cheetah, a critically endangered species that lives only in Iran. The conference which was hosted by local communities of Asiatic Cheetah habitat, was a great opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences with other environmental activists, officials, experts, and enthusiasts who are passionate about protecting this unique and magnificent animal. I learned a lot from the discussions and feedback, and I was inspired by the dedication and enthusiasm of everyone involved.
One of the main messages that I wanted to convey in my presentation was the importance of sharing conservation outcomes, obstacles, and success stories with all stakeholders and among local communities. The Asiatic Cheetah faces many threats, such as habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and climate change. To address these challenges, we need to work together with the government, researchers, rangers, farmers, herders, NGOs, media, and the public. We need to raise awareness and educate people about the value and beauty of this species, as well as the benefits of coexisting with it. We need to create incentives and opportunities for local people to participate in conservation efforts and benefit from them. We need to celebrate and appreciate the achievements and efforts of those who are working hard to protect this species.
I believe that by sharing our knowledge, experiences, and stories with each other, we can create a stronger and more effective network of conservationists who can make a difference for the Asiatic Cheetah. I hope that this conference will be a catalyst for more collaboration and communication among all those who care about this species. I also hope that it will inspire more people to join us in our mission to save the Asiatic Cheetah from extinction.
Together, we can make a difference! 🐆

I want to share with you a heartbreaking story of a cheetah family that I witnessed last week. A cheetah cub died in a road accident on a road that is known as “The Death Road” for cheetahs in Iran. This male cub and his brother along with their mother named “Helia” tried to cross the road and get to the northern habitats. We spent 7 nights by the road to prevent them from returning and finding their lost family member. In this video, I have sat in the middle of two road lanes and captured this video with my cellphone. You can see how close they were to the road. A group of more than 25 volunteers were ready to close the road in an emergency situation to prevent a new accident. We tried many ways to push them back from the road. However, the mother seems to have mourning for the lost cub for one week and didn’t want to get far away from the road.
The cub was one year old, and we expected them to separate from their mother soon to gain new territories for themselves. This is the third car accident for cheetahs on that road in recent 11 months. In August 2022 when we observed “Helia” with four cubs on the northern side of the road, she had four cubs. However, in late September 2022, our camera traps captured her with two cubs in the far south of the road. Sadly, just two of her cubs were captured by the camera. Now only one of four cubs survived during these 11 months.
As the Road Department in the government doesn’t will to allocate enough budget to improve safety on the road and make safe bypasses for cheetahs and other wildlife, we have arranged a group of individuals and organizations to crowdfund a small portion of the needed budget to safeguard accident hotspots. I hope people in Iran will join us in this campaign and help us save these magnificent animals from extinction.

You can watch the  video in my Linkedin page: