TEHRAN – Following the arrest of an animal-trafficking band in Tehran, an Asiatic cheetah cub was discovered and required measures were taken for her protection, Iran’s Department of Environment official website reported on Tuesday.

The cheetah, named Iran, was quickly moved to the wildlife rehabilitation center of Pardisan Park for further medical examinations, Hooman Jokar, director of the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) in Iran, said. 

The examinations have shown that “Fortunately, all of her limbs are healthy,” he said, adding, “She is just 8 months old and weighs nearly 15 kilograms.”

Further details about the animal’s fate is not revealed yet. 

Trading and keeping animals as pets, importing and exporting any wildlife species should be under the license of the Department of Environment, otherwise it is considered as an illegal act, ISNA quoted Ali Teymouri, the Department of Environment’s deputy director for hunting and fishing, as saying on Tuesday.

Violators are punished by up to three years of imprisonment and 1 billion rials (nearly $25,000) fine, he highlighted. 

The main habitat of the Asiatic cheetah in Iran is Dasht-e Kavir desert, encompassing parts of Khorasan, Kerman, Yazd, Semnan, Tehran and Markazi provinces. The cheetah has been put on the IUCN Red List since 1996 as a ‘critically endangered’ species.

MAH/MQ/MG