Current Affairs - Miscellaneous - Discussion

Asiatic cheetahs were once widespread across the continent but were eradicated in India, where they were hunted for sport. The spread of farming also greatly reduced numbers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Eventually the animal was wiped out in all the nations of Asia to which it was once native - with the exception of a few areas of Iran. The warning comes in the wake of the United Nation's decision to pull funding from the protection of the second-rarest cat species. Cheetahs are killed in droves by poachers, and local farmers, who kill them to protect their livestock. But a large number are lost as roadkill, being run over on highways. The onus is now on the Iranian government to step up funding for the planet's fastest land animals.