CHEETAHS

The world’s fastest land mammal is racing toward extinction, with a 2016 cheetah census suggesting that the big cats, which are already few in number, may decline by an additional 53 per cent over the next 15 years. Historically widespread across Africa and southwestern Asia, cheetahs are now known to occur in only 9 per cent of their past distributional range. There are just 7100 cheetahs left in the world and their future is uncertain.

Cheetahs are listed as “Vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, but after a recent study revealed significant population declines, scientists are calling for cheetahs to be uplisted to “Endangered.” In North Africa and Asia, they are considered “Critically Endangered.”

Threats

Cheetahs are frequently killed by farmers, either preemptively or in retaliation for livestock predation, even though the actual damage they cause to livestock is relatively minor.

Cheetahs are profoundly affected by loss of prey from human hunting and the development of land for agricultural and other purposes.

Direct hunting in some parts of Africa for skins contributes to cheetah population declines, as does the illegal trade in live cubs and adults, many of which die during transport.