This article has been hanging for several days because it sucks and it's more in a pile of bad news no-one wants to hear. Even worse, the cheetah is in that pile in large part because it was graced with beautiful fur. Only 7100 of them remain in the world. (Science Daily: Sprinting towards extinction? Cheetah numbers crash globally)
Note: there was also some reticence due to that horror of a title. Sprinting towards extinction ... wow.
- Photographer unknown
The cheetah is the fastest land animal alive, maybe the fastest ever. There's such an exotic elegance to these creatures and there's no need for an extended lament on conservation since you know it already. We do need the evidence, however.
Led by Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Panthera and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the study reveals that just 7,100 cheetahs remain globally, representing the best available estimate for the species to date. Furthermore, the cheetah has been driven out of 91% of its historic range. Asiatic cheetah populations have been hit hardest, with fewer than 50 individuals remaining in one isolated pocket of Iran.
Due to the species' dramatic decline, the study's authors are calling for the cheetah to be up-listed from 'Vulnerable' to 'Endangered' on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Typically, greater international conservation support, prioritization and attention are granted to wildlife classified as 'Endangered', in efforts to stave off impending extinction.
Note: there was also some reticence due to that horror of a title. Sprinting towards extinction ... wow.
- Photographer unknown
The cheetah is the fastest land animal alive, maybe the fastest ever. There's such an exotic elegance to these creatures and there's no need for an extended lament on conservation since you know it already. We do need the evidence, however.
Led by Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Panthera and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the study reveals that just 7,100 cheetahs remain globally, representing the best available estimate for the species to date. Furthermore, the cheetah has been driven out of 91% of its historic range. Asiatic cheetah populations have been hit hardest, with fewer than 50 individuals remaining in one isolated pocket of Iran.
Due to the species' dramatic decline, the study's authors are calling for the cheetah to be up-listed from 'Vulnerable' to 'Endangered' on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Typically, greater international conservation support, prioritization and attention are granted to wildlife classified as 'Endangered', in efforts to stave off impending extinction.
- SD
Read the article for additional detail but you see the case and their apparent qualification to make it.
Perhaps you'll forgive a political intrusion in this context since Trump's focus on doing good business could conceivably change the relationship with African countries such that they become business partners rather than simply resources. When that raises the standard of living in African countries, people will shift more to treasuring the uniqueness of their countries but right now the profit in killing animals is too attractive for many to resist. Another is slash and burn farming which isn't supportable on a large scale but is attractive when other alternatives do not exist.
Good business must be good animal husbandry since you can't have business without them. It doesn't matter whether the animal is regarded as economically-useful since it's been shown many times you can't take any species out of the chain without affecting the others.
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