Several days of intensive veterinary treatment failed to save a male Asiatic Cheetah cub that suffered a severe spinal injury in a road accident last week.
"Despite all efforts by the veterinary team at Pardisan Park, the seven-month-old cheetah cub injured last week in a road accident in Abbasabad protected area near Shahrud, Semnan Province, died last night," the Department of Environment's website reported on Wednesday.
The impact had severed his spinal cord at the fifth lumbar vertebra, the report said.
After an emergency surgery, the young animal was transferred to Tehran's Pardisan Park, where the DOE's head office is located, to be left in the 24-hour care of a team of vets.
Abbasabad road has developed a notorious reputation as an accident blackspot for Asiatic Cheetahs and other wildlife.
The accident has prompted the DOE's office in Semnan Province to finally put in motion a project to install a fence along the road as well as green underpass to prevent the split of the animal's habitat. Majid Kharrazian, head of the DOE's Office for Biodiversity and Wildlife, expressed hope that the ongoing project "would help substantially reduce the death toll of this valuable species due to road accidents."
The operations, now conducted by a contractor, started around a week ago. Asiatic Cheetahs are classified as endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. About fifty Asiatic cheetahs have been registered in Iran. Based on recorded documents and evidence, over the past 62 years, the presence of the species has been proved only in Iran.
