New footage showing Iranian cheetah cub in good shape

An Asiatic cheetah has given birth to cubs at a facility in Iran, marking the first time the species reproduced in captivity on May 1.

Three young cheetahs were welcomed into the world at the Asian Cheetah Breeding Center of the Turan Biosphere Reserve in Tehran.

The mother cheetah, named ‘Iran’, delivered her cubs via Cesarean section, and then the babies went into intensive care.

One of the cubs died on May 4 due to malformations in the left lung and lung adhesion, according to Dr. Behrang Ekrami, a veterinarian at the Asian Cheetah Breeding Center.

Two weeks after the death of the first cub, the second of three Asiatic cheetah cubs died.

Asiatic cheetahs once roamed across Central Asia from the Middle East to Russia, but now have been spotted only in Iran, according to the International Society for Endangered Cats Canada.

Iran is one of the last countries in the world where Asiatic cheetahs live in the wild and began a United Nations-supported protection program in 2001.

Environmentalists say the world’s fastest animal has been the victim of drought, hunting, habitat destruction, and scarcity of prey due to hunters in the remote and arid central plateaus.

The Iranian Cheetah Society says the only remaining habitats left for the majestic cats is the Miandasht Wildlife Refuge and the Touran Biosphere Reserve in northeast Iran.

MNA/5647215