Camera trap sightings raise hopes for rare cheetahs

Wildlife experts are celebrating the sightings of two groups of rare Asiatic cheetahs in central Iran during recent months, raising hopes that one of the world’s fastest moving creatures could be saved from extinction, conservation officials said today.

Iranian wildlife scientists saw four adult cheetahs in August, two months after camera traps revealed a female cheetah with her four cubs resting under the shade of a tree, said Houshang Ziaei, an official of the Environment Protection Organisation of Iran.