Source: Press TV
Iranian and Russian ecologists have announced
ambitious plans to return Caspian Tigers as well as Asiatic cheetahs, which
disappeared some half a century ago in their countries, to the wild.
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Asiatic cheetah |
A delegation of Russian ecologists headed by
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation
Sergey Donskoy arrived in Tehran a week ago to discuss avenues to reestablish
the wild cats.
During the meeting, the Iranian ecologists shed light on the prospect of
repopulating the jungles in northern Iran with extraordinary Caspian Tiger,
which became extinct over 40 years ago.
This is while through modern genetic analysis it has been discovered the Caspian
Tiger and the Siberian Tiger, still in existence, are separated by only one
letter of genetic code. The Caspian Tiger can be reestablished by using their
relative, the Siberian Tiger.
Russian and international conservation groups
banned hunting of tiger in 1947, but it was too late for the Caspian Tiger to
make a recovery. Poaching and contributing factors wiped out the majestic cat.
Conservation efforts, however, did help to protect and stabilize the Siberian
Tiger. Fortunately, the subspecies commingling in the distant past will allow
the Caspian Tiger to once again take its rightful place in the family tree of
tigers.
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Caspian Tiger |
The Russian ecologist asked for Iranian
assistance in revival of Asiatic cheetahs in the northern Caucasus region.
Described as powerful and graceful hunters, cheetahs are the world's fastest
animal and easy to train. Cheetahs were trained by ancient Persian kings, who
used them to hunt gazelles.
Recognizing the cats' precarious situation, Iran's Department of Environment has
worked with the UN Development Program-Global Environment Facility and Wildlife
Conservation Society in New York since 2001 to save the only 50 to 60 Asiatic
cheetahs which live in the Dasht-e Kavir region of Iran.
... Payvand News - 01/09/10 ... --
