The cheetah - the fastest land animal tin the world - is rapidly heading towards extinction according to experts. Scientists are estimating that there might be only 7,100 of these animals remaining in the wild. The cheetah population in Asia is dangerously close to being completely wiped out with no more than 50 of these cats surviving in Iran.
The cheetah population in Zimbabwe has also experienced a very significant decline with numbers plummeting by as much as 85 percent within the last decade alone. To be more precise, the Zimbabwe cheetah population has dropped from 1,200 in the year 2000 to only 170 in 2016.
One of the key reasons for the species' rapidly declining population is how they are now frequently coming into contact with humans and the range of their habitats - some of which are beyond human protection. The animals who live beyond protected territories often struggle as their lands are being used by farmers. Bushmeat hunting has also taken a huge toll on the animal's prey.
Another major cause for the cheetah's dwindling population is the illegal trafficking of their cubs, as stated in an earlier report by the BBC. A single cheetah cub can be worth as much as $10,000 in the black market. Over the last 10 years, there have been at least 1,200 cheetah cubs that have gotten trafficked out of Africa, but almost 85 percent of them died along the way.
The sudden decline in its population has prompted the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to upgrade its status from "vulnerable" to "endangered on its Red List. This upgrade is expected to raise more awareness on the species' plight as it now fights for its survival. Governments have also agreed to implement new measures to address this concern, including the use of social media in advertising the selling of cheetahs.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
