Cheetah numbers declining

Johannesburg — Amid population declines for many wildlife species in Africa, conservationists are sounding alarm bells for the cheetah, the fastest animal on land.

An estimated 7,100 cheetahs remain in the wild across Africa and in a small area of Iran, and human encroachment has pushed the predator out of 91% of its historic habitat, according to a study published on Monday.

Consequently, the cheetah should be defined as “endangered” instead of the less serious “vulnerable” on an official watch list of threatened species worldwide, the study said.

“This period is really crunch time for species like cheetah that need these big areas,” said Sarah Durant, a specialist at the Zoological Society of London and the lead author of the report published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Besides habitat loss, cheetahs face attacks from villagers, loss of antelope and other prey that are killed by people for their meat, an illegal trade in cheetah cubs, the trafficking of cheetah skins and the threat of getting hit by speeding vehicles.

More than half of the world’s cheetahs live in southern Africa, including in Namibia and Botswana, which have relatively sparse human populations. Cheetahs have been virtually wiped out in Asia, according to the study.