Urgent action called for as cheetah numbers plummet worldwide

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Scientists are calling for cheetahs to be classed as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;endangered” after a new study found just 7&comma;100 of the cats remain on Earth&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The relatively secretive wild cats have been driven from 91&percnt; of their historic habitat&comma; largely due to 77&percnt; of that habitat existing outside of protected areas&comma; according to the Zoological Society of London&comma; Panthera and Wildlife Conservation Society research&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The world’s fastest land animal is currently classed as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;vulnerable”&comma; but scientists are hoping that with an upgrade to endangered status the cheetah will receive greater conservation support and be prioritised in the fight against extinction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This study represents the most comprehensive analysis of cheetah status to date&period; Given the secretive nature of this elusive cat&comma; it has been difficult to gather hard information on the species&comma; leading to its plight being overlooked&comma;” lead author Dr Sarah Durant said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Our findings show that the large space requirements for cheetahs&comma; coupled with the complex range of threats faced by the species in the wild&comma; mean that it is likely to be much more vulnerable to extinction than was previously thought&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cheetahs&comma; even within reserves&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;rarely escape” threats to their existence such as prey loss due to over-hunting by humans&comma; habitat loss and illegal trafficking of parts and live animals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Zimbabwe has lost 85&percnt; of its cheetahs since 2000&comma; according to the study&comma; with the big cat’s numbers dropping from 1&comma;200 to a maximum of 170 over the past 16 years – while just 50 Asiatic cheetahs are left&comma; in a pocket of Iran&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’ve just hit the reset button in our understanding of how close cheetahs are to extinction&period; The take-away from this pinnacle study is that securing protected areas alone is not enough&comma;”<&sol;i> Panthera’s cheetah programme director&comma; Dr Kim Young-Overton&comma; said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We must think bigger&comma; conserving across the mosaic of protected and unprotected landscapes that these far-ranging cats inhabit&comma; if we are to avert the otherwise certain loss of the cheetah forever&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed7670884ff">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;divId&colon; 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