As I submit my final report on cheetah monitoring, my last project with the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), I reflect on 13 years of growth, learning, and dedication. ICS has been an integral part of my journey, and I’ve always been proud to contribute to its mission. Over the years, I have remained steadfast in my belief that we spared no effort to protect the wildlife of this country, which has helped us endure countless challenges and emerge stronger.

Today, after 13 years, my path has diverged from ICS. Just as nature constantly evolves, so must our methods for protecting it. Along with my colleagues, I am embarking on a new journey with Sarvin Wildlife Conservation. Together, we aim to explore innovative approaches to conservation, particularly for the Asiatic cheetah. Our focus is on resilience and sustainability, qualities that have guided us for years and will continue to define our work.
Download the report from here.

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.

The recent camera trap video of Mahshad and her four cubs in Touran National Park was captured at the same location where we recorded her with her mother, Harb, and another cub in September 2021 (above photo in left pic).

That photo marked the first sighting of Harb and her cubs after more than a year. Over the following year, Mahshad was frequently recorded alongside her mother in various parts of the park. Evidence suggests that Harb lost one of her cubs and spent the subsequent year, until autumn 2022, teaching her daughter how to navigate the park’s landscape.

Harb’s movement patterns indicate that she likely gave birth in the western part of the protected area before moving into the national park with her cubs. Interestingly, Mahshad has closely followed her mother’s movement patterns—giving birth in the same area, entering the park through the same routes, and using similar paths when moving alone (see right pic). Future data on Mahshad’s movements with her cubs will help us determine how much she continues to replicate her mother’s pattern.

Meanwhile, based on available observations, other females have established their territories completely separate from their mothers.

I sincerely hope that Mahshad successfully raises all four of her cubs. However, records show that other cheetahs, such as Khorshid and Helia, lost two out of their four cubs before they reached independence (Helia even lost a third cub in a road accident). In another case involving a female with four cubs, we lack information on how many of her cubs survived since she quickly left the protected area and moved into an unprotected zone.

❌ ❌ Cub mortality appears to be a significant challenge for female Asiatic cheetahs, and further research is needed to understand the underlying causes as soon as possible.

📷 : Iranian Cheetah Society- Department of Environment

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.

In Iran, where satellite collars are not readily available, continuous monitoring through camera traps plays a crucial role in understanding cheetah movement and health. The map below pertains to Khorshid, a well-known female cheetah in the Touran Biosphere Reserve. Remarkably, she currently holds the record for the highest documented birth rate of cheetahs in Iran. To create this map, we invested over $7,000 (equivalent to 3,000,000,000 rials) and collaborated with at least six experts during 3 years of fieldwork. Unfortunately, the wages paid to these experts fell below the country’s standards.
Initially, our knowledge of Khorshid’s movement range was quite limited. However, after more than three years of continuous monitoring, we have significantly expanded our understanding. Although the mapped range represents only a fraction of the cheetah’s overall movement, our primary tool remains continuous camera trapping without satellite tracking. Thanks to these camera traps, we can estimate Khorshid’s birthing locations and track her cubs’ subsequent paths as they grow. This information is invaluable for securing targeted conservation areas. By continuing our camera-trapping efforts, we aim to enhance data accuracy for other cheetah individuals.

Unfortunately, we face exorbitant costs for minimal information due to mismanagement, sanctions, and security challenges. Despite these obstacles, we persist in our conservation efforts, leveraging limited and hard-to-access resources.

A week ago, during a trip to Touran Biosphere Reserve, we discovered an intriguing photograph of a cheetah among the numerous wildlife images captured by our camera traps. This particular cheetah had not been previously documented and is not part of our known cheetah population. It is believed to be a female, possibly one of the cubs born four years ago. However, due to the lack of clear images of all the cubs, identifying her poses a challenge.
The discovery of this cheetah is significant as it could represent a new addition to the population or one of the previously known cubs. Both scenarios are encouraging because the survival of Asiatic Cheetahs relies on the introduction of new genes into the population.
Furthermore, the return of cheetahs that had separated from their mothers years ago to the protected areas is a hopeful sign, indicating their ability to survive outside the protected zones.
It’s worth noting that Touran Biosphere Reserve is the largest complex of protected areas in Iran, covering an area of approximately 1,459,506.2 hectares. It is home to several endangered species, including the critically endangered Asiatic Cheetah.
Less than 40 Asiatic Cheetahs are left in the world.
It’s disheartening to learn that there are fewer than 40 Asiatic Cheetahs remaining in the world. The conservation efforts for these magnificent creatures are crucial to ensure their survival and protect their habitats.
More Here

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! 🐆