Amid War in Iran, the World's Rarest Big Cat Is Running Out of Time

By Kaitlin Murray 

In the face of conflict, road accidents, and other threats, scientists are working to pull the Asiatic cheetah back from the brink of extinction.

Asiatic cheetah. Erfan Kouchari. CC BY 4.0. 

In February 2026, nine days before the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran, rangers filmed a female cheetah with five cubs in the North Khorasan province, the largest litter ever recorded for the subspecies. This comes at a time when fewer than 30 Asiatic cheetahs are believed to be left in the wild. While the subspecies once roamed vast distances spanning the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, and Central Asia, today they are only spotted in the rugged deserts of Iran. Given the uncertainty of the ongoing war and the Asiatic cheetah’s classification as critically endangered, it is more important than ever to ensure their future is protected. 

While a cousin of the African cheetah, the subspecies is visibly different, with smaller heads, shorter legs, thicker coats, and a more powerful neck. It is believed they diverged from the African cheetah between 32,000 and 67,000 years ago, adapting to the different terrain of the Asian continent over time. The Asiatic cheetah was known throughout history, with the Mughal emperors keeping them for hunting and Emperor Akbar reportedly keeping over 1,000 during his lifetime. 

Throughout the 20th century, the cheetah began disappearing. By the 1940s, it had gone extinct in 13 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and India. Pakistan’s final sighting was in 1997. What remains of the species now roam the desert regions of Yazd, Semnan, Kerman and Isfahan in Iran, which is only 16% of its original territory. While the country granted the species protected status in 1959, the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War halted conservation efforts for decades. Today, the global population stands at 27 individuals that have been ID-carded, plus five in breeding sites and six more in captivity.

Asiatic cheetah lives in rugged terrain. Mousa Mazinanian. CC BY 4.0. 

Current Threats to Conservation

Long before the first bombs were dropped in February 2026, the Asiatic cheetah was already fighting for its survival. The number in 2026 had recovered from only 20 individuals recorded in August 2025 and from 12 at its lowest point in 2022. Every new cub recorded is a victory, given the numerous threats they face, including poaching, human-wildlife conflict, habitat fragmentation, low genetic diversity, and road accidents, all of which threaten their livelihoods.

Of all these obstacles, road accidents are the deadliest. The story of beloved Helia, the female with the cubs who made history in January 2026, illustrates the danger of road accidents. In 2024, she was spotted with two cubs in the Miandasht Wildlife Refuge after traveling more than 130 kilometers from the Turan reserve. Tragically, one of her cubs was struck and killed by a vehicle on the “Death Road” that cuts through the Semnan province. For a week after her cub's death, she stayed near the road, with volunteers on guard to block traffic in case they tried to cross again. 

The ongoing war adds another layer to an already volatile crisis. While the cheetah was given a protected status and national parks were established, the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the subsequent Iran-Iraq War set back conservation work by decades. Recently, conservationists have been the target of questioning and even arrests by the Iranian government. 

One of the most notable organizations focused on protecting the cheetah is the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, which had previous partnerships with the UN and international NGOs. The Tehran-based group used camera traps to monitor wildlife, including the Persian leopard, the Asiatic cheetah and the Asiatic black bear. Camera traps monitor wildlife without human presence and are widely used around the globe. However, in Iran, the usage was enough for nine members of the organization to be arrested for espionage in 2018. 

One member, Kavous Seyed-Emami, an Iranian-Canadian scientist and the foundation’s founder, died after two weeks in Evin Prison under “suspicious circumstances.” Though his death was ruled a suicide, his family tried to launch an investigation. Thankfully, the other seven members were freed in April 2024, more than six years after their arrest. This sent a chill throughout the international conservation community, as foreign investments and international organizations were hesitant to work in Iran again. 

While camera traps are a great start for tracking cheetah movements, experts have cited that GPS collars could be an important tool in the future. They have been used before to study Persian leopards and, according to recently published research, could “provide essential insights into habitat use, movements and survival, enabling more effective conservation strategies.”

For Iranians, the cheetah is more than just an endangered animal; it is a source of national pride and cultural identity. When Iran’s national football team took to the pitch at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the cheetah was printed on their kit. Meraj Airlines painted the animal across their planes. 

Looking Toward the Future

Amid the ongoing war, sanctions from Western nations and sporadic internet shutdowns, conservationists in Iran are concerned about the fate of the species. When will the conflict end? What is the current state of the cheetahs in inaccessible regions? How will new funding be accessed? These are all questions that conservationists and scientists around the world continue to ask themselves in the face of such an uncertain future. 

Jamshid Parchizadeh, a research scientist, when asked by Mongabay about the future of the war, stated, “Before the war, cheetah conservation received limited funding from the government. But after the war, I doubt that the government has any money left for the conservation of the cheetah.” 

GET INVOLVED: 

Getting involved in protecting the cheetah in Iran can be complicated, especially with the ongoing conflict. The Cheetah Conservation Fund has permits to work in Iran that allow for close partnerships with groups on the ground. Visit their site to learn more about how you can help their cause to protect cheetahs around the world. 

Other ways to get involved include learning about the Asiatic cheetah and raising awareness. You can help by sharing the cheetah's story online and spreading awareness of its protection. For updates and news on the status of the cheetah, visit Mongabay, an independent news platform focused on global and environmental challenges. The Felidae Fund also provides information and steps to raise awareness through social media platforms and community work.

Kaitlin Murray

Kaitlin Siena Murray is a travel journalist and global storyteller documenting cultures, historical places, and the people and social impact movements helping the world. Raised worldschooling across more than 129 countries with degrees in anthropology and history, her writing is driven by a commitment to global citizenship, capturing the diversity and beauty of the world through the lens of culture, history, and social change.

Albanian Backlash Threatens Trump-Linked Luxury Resort

By Jeremy Gordon

Jared Kushner’s luxury development project sparks massive backlash from citizens and environmentalists.

Dalmatian pelican in Albania. Kostiantyn Klymovets. Pexels.

The first week of June saw tensions flare in Albania over the construction of a new luxury resort in one of the country’s most biodiverse regions. The project, backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is set to wreak havoc on the local environment and spark affordability issues for locals. Protests have spread from the barbed-wire barricades surrounding the site to the capital of Tirana, where thousands have taken to the streets carrying flamingo-shaped signs and chanting their discontent. 

The region in question is Vjosa-Narta. It is where the Vjosa River, which arises in the Pindus Mountains of northwestern Greece and stretches over 270 kilometers, empties into the Adriatic Sea. The wetland surrounding this Adriatic delta is one of the most ecologically vital habitats in Europe, home to over 200 bird species, including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans, and over 70 endangered species, including the Mediterranean monk seal and loggerhead sea turtle. It is part of the Adriatic Flyway, a major migration corridor for millions of birds that fly between Africa and Europe each year.

The $1.2 billion development project threatens to ravage the natural habitat, destroy ancient dunes protected under Albanian law and cut off tidal exchange between the Narta Lagoon and the Adriatic, plunging the marine food chain into chaos. Concrete and barbed-wire barriers have been erected, blocking locals from entering parts of the lagoon and beach. Over 40 environmental groups called for cessation of the project in January, though those calls were ignored by the Albanian government, which has amended its laws and permitting processes to pave the way for the project. Critics have decried the lack of transparency and potential corruption surrounding the decision. Prime Minister Edi Rama has stood firm in support of the project, warning against appearing hostile to foreign investment.

The project is the brainchild of Jared Kushner through his investment firm Affinity Partners. The plans call for the wetland to be transformed into a sprawling, sparkling seaside plot of hotels, villas and high-end apartments. It is part of a larger push to transform Albania into an elite tourist destination. Tourism is the major driver of the Albanian economy, accounting for roughly 20% to 25% of the GDP. It has been the surest route to Westernization since the fall of the communist government in 1992.

At the heart of Kushner’s development project is Sazan Island, a place with a long military history. It was known to the ancient Greeks and the Romans, and it later became an important naval outpost for the Ottoman Empire. When Albania gained independence in 1912, the island’s ownership fell into dispute. It was occupied by the Italians in 1914 and became a fortified military base under Benito Mussolini.

After World War II, the island reverted to Albanian ownership and became a secret military site for Enver Hoxha, the repressive communist prime minister from 1944 to 1954. Underneath its lush pine forests sprouted a vast network of underground tunnels and bunkers, including a cinema, school and hospital. Even after the fall of communism, the island retained military relevance, becoming a joint Italian-Albanian base.

In the 2010s, as Albania was being granted EU candidate status and making itself more attractive to foreign investment, the island’s surrounding sea was designated a national marine park. It became a tranquil spot for citizens to bask and enjoy the local wildlife. And in 2024, the island came to the attention of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. In an interview with podcaster David Senra earlier this June, Ivanka claimed that the couple was “on a friend’s boat” and “stopped for a swim” when they found the island and became captivated by it. That set in motion the chain of events that led to the skirting of environmental protection laws, the detrimental construction project and the subsequent fiery protests. 

The protests have borne some fruit. Albania’s anti-corruption prosecutor SPAK (Special Structure against Corruption and Organized Crime) has opened an investigation into the shadowy legal maneuvering that initiated the project. The European Commission has warned Albania that the project could be detrimental to its EU membership, conflicting with the larger body’s environmental rules. A spokesperson for Sofjan Jaupaj, Albania’s environmental minister, has downplayed progress of the development, claiming that “no final project proposal has been submitted and construction activities have not commenced as no construction permit has been approved.”

Sazan Island and its surrounding region now enter a new, uncertain era. It has been an ancient naval outpost, a communist military base, a coastal getaway and may now become a glitzy tourist attraction backed by billions in foreign investment. The transformation is emblematic of Albania’s larger race to shed its past and join the West. And it features all of the pitfalls that go along with that.

Jeremy Gordon

Jeremy is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University studying Creative Writing. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor's in Criminology and Criminal Justice and worked for four years as an Investigative Specialist with the Public Defender Service for DC. 

The Gray Area Between Animal Rides and Animal Rights

Nick Dauk

Camel rides and horse-drawn carriages in the tourism industry create moral dilemmas for travelers.

Camels used for tourist rides at the Pyramids of Giza. Nick Dauk.   

Seven men stand above a dead horse, discussing the easiest way to move its carcass into a truck bed. This is the second expired equine my tour group has encountered in Egypt; the first, an unfortunate foal, was discarded like trash on the streets of Cairo. Sadly, this is a common sight for many international travelers and is the reason Luxor’s Animal Care in Egypt (ACE) charity veterinary hospital exists. The organization was founded by U.K. traveler Kim Taylor 25 years ago, after she observed the mistreatment of working horses and donkeys in Luxor. 

Luxor’s ACE veterinary staff loading a deceased horse into a pick-up truck. Nick Dauk.

In 2023, while I am on tour with Exodus Adventure Travels, I see horses pulling carriages through Luxor that get whipped, kicked and treated like machinery. The reality is that many of the animals working in Egypt’s tourism sector are irresponsibly cared for at best and grossly abused at worst. The issue is not unique to Egypt; elsewhere in the world, equines, elephants and other animals are also subject to mistreatment within a tourism context.  

The ethics of animal welfare seem black and white in principle, but both the tourist and the tourism company are often guilty of harboring, even subconsciously, a murky gray scale. Listening to the voices of tourism companies, veterinarians and animal welfare advocates can help travelers draw the line in making ethically educated decisions when encountering animals in the tourism industry. “Animal advocacy is absolutely central to how responsible wildlife tourism should operate,” Head of Positive Impact at Jacada Travel, Natalie Lyall-Grant, tells me. In 2025, Jacada performed an audit of its wildlife-related activities and subsequently removed more than 40 animal experiences from its portfolio of tours. “We prohibit physical interactions with wild animals, refusing to sell attractions that exploit them for profit or forced performance,” Lyall-Grant adds.

Jacada is far from the only tour company to reassess animal encounters; a decade ago, companies like G Adventures and Intrepid Travel banned elephant rides on their tours. The Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) in Laos claims that traveler expectations have also shifted: more travelers are actively seeking out ethical wildlife experiences and pointedly rejecting activities like elephant rides. But even so, the fact is that animal mistreatment is often made less obvious to travelers.

Abuse and Mistreatment Are Often Hidden From Tourists

“Travelers increasingly want to do the right thing, but they’re rarely given the full picture,” says Emily Guice, Corporate Responsibility Officer for PETA. “They don’t see the open sores hidden under saddles, the stables saturated with urine and waste, or animals that are forced to work for hours without proper shade, food or water.”

A group of camels used for tourism at the Giza Necropolis. Nick Dauk.

In 2019, PETA uncovered widespread abuse of both horses and camels in Egypt that continued through 2025. The animals were covered in wounds and emaciated, then dumped daily in a hidden graveyard near the pyramids when they expired. I hear these same claims when I visit Luxor’s ACE veterinary hospital. Jana, a German volunteer equine veterinarian, tells me that she regularly sees severe wounds and diseases that she typically doesn’t encounter in Europe. Speaking from a medical perspective, she believes that tourists should not purchase Luxor’s horse-drawn carriage rides, but she also doesn’t think that opting out instantly saves the animals’ lives. “You see a really skinny horse and assume the owners are so cruel, but they’re often just as skinny,” Jana says. “It’s not as easy of a decision as it seems, and I haven’t found a solution for myself yet.”

Jana, a German equine veterinarian at ACE in Luxor. Nick Dauk. 

A spokesperson from Brooke, an international charity focused on the protection and welfare of working equines, agrees that the issue is complicated for the animal operators. “Most do the best they can within their resources, even if they lack the capacity, opportunity or motivation to make changes.” Yet, while purchasing these services may contribute to the animal’s care, the traveler still needs to understand their responsibility. “Demand drives practice, so ethical choices support better care. Consider if use of the animal is necessary, and how operators support their welfare during and outside of work.”

Other advocates like PETA take a different stance, noting that the need for change lies at a deeper level. “Jobs tied to animal exploitation are precarious by design,” Guice says. “When companies stop promoting animal rides, tourism doesn’t disappear; it shifts to ethical alternatives and opens the door to more sustainable tourism work.”

The Gray Area Between Animal Rides and Animal Rights

At no point did our Exodus tour guide offer or encourage us to ride any animal in Egypt, opting instead to include an ATV ride near Giza’s pyramids and free time to stroll Luxor’s markets on foot. However, Exodus, along with G Adventures, Intrepid Travel and Jacada Travel, does currently offer horseback riding on some Latin America tours. Travelers may find themselves in unfamiliar, sometimes uncomfortable positions where they’re encouraged to make a decision without knowing all of the details. “It really shouldn’t fall on the traveler to figure this out on their own. That’s our responsibility,” said Intrepid’s Leigh Barnes.

Horse cart and owner near the Great Pyramid of Giza. Nick Dauk.

Thankfully, those looking for alternatives to riding an animal can still achieve a memorable experience at many unforgettable destinations. In Giza, for instance, tourists have the option of riding the new electric buses to the pyramids. Ultimately, the responsibility does fall on both the tour company and the tourist. It’s the operator’s choice on who and how to partner with animal-focused activities, and it’s the traveler’s decision of how they choose to financially support these operators. “The future of animal-friendly tourism isn’t about finding the least harmful ride,” Guice says. “It’s about choosing experiences that let animals be animals, not attractions.” 

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Nick Dauk

Based in Florida, Nick Dauk is a travel writer primarily focusing on tourism sustainability initialives, endangered wildlife, and vulnerable populations. His work has been featured in National Geographic, Afar, The National Post, and Euronews. When he's not photographing the wonders of the Arctic, the Amazon, or Africa, he's usually seeking out cultural, cuisine, and community-based stories across the Americas and Europe.

How Drones are Protecting the Amazon

Carson Jelinek

With the Amazon nearing a critical ecological threshold, drones have emerged as innovative forest guardians.

Amazon River. Nando Freitas. Pexels.

For 50 years, the Amazon Rainforest has experienced extensive deforestation due to illegal land grabbing, cattle ranching and agricultural expansion, particularly soy cultivation. There have been some signs of improvement, such as deforestation falling 30% at the end of 2024, but ultimately, activities have pushed the ecosystem to a critical tipping point. Illegal forest fires, for instance, increased in 2025, having been set to clear land and thus leaving the forest more vulnerable to future damage.

Aftermath of forest fire. Engin Akyurt. Pexels.

MORFO is a French-Brazilian climate tech startup working to restore ecosystems like the Amazon. The company operates in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Montpellier, France, where they focus on science-based, nature-oriented solutions and reforestation led by drone imagery. The mission at MORFO is more than just planting trees; it is about making tropical forest restoration reliable, measurable and investible. The company currently has 24 ongoing projects and 2,000 hectares under active restoration with long-term monitoring and compliance.

DJI drone. ClickerHappy. CC0.

One of MORFO’s projects was an old gold mining site in the Amazon that had less than 1% vegetation cover at the start of their involvement. Local environmental authorities gave MORFO permission to help reforest the area, and now the site has reached 81% vegetation cover. The project, which started at about 10 hectares and has grown to nearly 100 hectares,  has demonstrated how technology can accelerate forest recovery alongside regulatory approval.

Woodpile. Pok Rie. Pexels.

Additionally, Indigenous groups are increasingly employing drones to monitor their territories and detect illegal logging or other potential threats. Members of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tribe, for instance, have utilized drone technology to identify the deforestation of 200 hectares of their land. As a result of this surveillance, they successfully intervened to halt further deforestation. The implementation of drones within tribal communities has facilitated the development of technological skills among village members, with each village seeking to train at least seven individuals in drone operation.

GET INVOLVED:

WWF Brazil and the Kaninde Association of Ethno-Environmental Protection: WWF has helped train Indigenous youth, including the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tribe, to use drones for patrolling. 

Rainforest Foundation US: Donate to support Rainforest US and their working directly with Indigenous peoples, where technicians analyze high-resolution aerial images, GPS data and videos to detect illegal land clearing.
MORFO: Check out MORFO’s website to learn more about their organization, as well as other activities they do.

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Carson Jelinek

Carson is a 22 year old writer and filmmaker studying film and media productions at Arizona State University. His work explores travel, culture, and the people behind the places, with a focus on stories that encourage curiosity and global understanding.

How Rats are Combating Cambodia’s Mine Crisis

Ryan Yianni

On the outskirts of Siem Reap, rats are leading the fight against landmines in one of the world’s most affected countries.

Author pictured with Glen the HeroRAT. Ryan Yianni.

“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands.” 

One of the late Anthony Bourdain’s most recognizable quotes centers on the role the U.S. played in the devastation of the mine-infested Southeast Asian country during the Vietnam and Cambodian Civil Wars. Cambodia’s natural beauty, plethora of breathtaking temples and numerous UNESCO World Heritage sites are overshadowed by its dark history of authoritarianism and genocide under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Perhaps there is no greater evidence of the past’s lingering effect on the nation than the estimated 6 million mines still littered across Cambodia, which claimed the lives of 12 people in 2024, along with another 29 casualties and eight amputations. During my visit to the country in March 2025, I was able to seeAPOPO’s visitor center, learning how one organization is working to clear these mines using a rather unconventional method: rats.

Cambodia has one of the highest rates of amputation in the world, with over 40,000 amputees since the outbreak of hostilities in the 1960s. Several sides are responsible for planting the explosives that have caused these casualties; the Americans dropped nearly 3 million tons of ordnance between 1965 and 1973, the Khmer Rouge, under Pot, laid an estimated 4 million to 6 million landmines and other munitions, and the government of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, a satellite state of Vietnam, planted mines along the entirety of the Cambodia-Thailand border after the Rouge’s overthrowal. There are a number of organizations working to remove the remaining unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Cambodia, such as the HALO Trust, Mines Advisory Group and Cambodian Self Help Demining, all doing valuable work. One notable group is APOPO, which stands out for its innovative use of rats as a mine action solution.

APOPO is a Belgian NGO that trains southern giant pouched rats, dubbed HeroRATs, and survey dogs to detect landmines and tuberculosis. Founded in 1997 by Bart Weetjens, who discovered a publication in which gerbils were used for scent detection, APOPO began training rats in 1998 with funding from the Belgian government before relocating their headquarters to Tanzania in 2000, where they are still based. Having gathered enough evidence that the rats would be effective, they carried out their first trials in 2003, with all twenty landmines successfully found. Achieving operational accreditation in 2004, the group officially launched its HeroRAT campaign the following year before beginning its operations in 2006, tackling mine-clearance procedures in Mozambique. They partnered with the Cambodian Mine Action Center in 2014, with the first group of HeroRATs arriving in 2015. As of 2026, they operate in Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Ukraine, and they have cleared over 170,000 mines from over 132 million square meters of land. Their work so far in Cambodia has seen them clear over 8,000 landmines and nearly 43,000 pieces of UXO, such as bombs, shells and other munitions that failed to detonate, returning over 75 million square meters of land to local communities. At APOPO’s visitor center in Siem Reap, you can learn firsthand about the work they do in helping clear Cambodia of mines and overcome the traumas of the country’s past.

The visitor center provides tours every day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Each tour lasts approximately one hour, and tickets can be purchased on arrival or in advance on their website. I arrived at the center in the afternoon after a ten-minute tuk-tuk ride from the core of Siem Reap. Conveniently, the center is also located near Angkor Wat, making the temple a perfect addition to your travel itinerary (plus, they have a cafe on site and make a great mango smoothie). On my visit to the APOPO center, having gone later in the day, I was able to enjoy fewer crowds, followed by a beautiful sunset at Angkor Wat. Most people go to the center in the morning before heading to Angkor Wat during the day, as you can’t go past the main gates of the temple after 5 p.m. 

At the start of the tour, you’ll be shown a video contextualizing the scale of the mine issue in Cambodia and explaining the work that APOPO does to clear UXO. Then you will be able to look through the center at the displays of cleared explosives before heading out to the demonstration zone, where you finally meet the stars of the show: the HeroRATs.

Recovered explosives housed in the APOPO Visitor Center. Ryan Yianni

Once outside, you get an up-close and personal interaction with the rats, even being able to hold one of them. Here, I learned that the rats are trained with a click toy to encourage them to hunt before they are introduced to the TNT scent. The weight of the rats allows them to detect mines without setting them off, and the speed at which they can locate the scents makes for an efficient way to clear large swathes of land. The rats are much quicker and safer than humans ever could be; once fully trained, they can clear an area the size of a tennis court in 30 minutes. To put that into perspective, it would take a human using a metal detector four days to clear an area this size. At the center, you will also get to see a reenactment of how they scan for TNT, with defused mines laid out in the demonstration zone for the rats to sniff and detect.

Demonstration area in APOPO Visitor Center. Ryan Yianni.

Undoubtedly, the hero and poster boy of the APOPO mission is Ronin, who in 2024 was awarded a Guinness World Record for being the most successful Mine Detection Rat in history, having detected 109 landmines and 15 items of UXO in Cambodia. Unfortunately, during the production of this article, APOPO announced that Ronin had passed away after suffering health complications. There is still a whole team of HeroRATs stationed in Cambodia, with 24 new rats arriving from their training base in Mozambique in October 2025.

APOPO is a brilliant organization working hard to remove landmines and UXO from the Cambodian countryside and beyond. They strive to make the world a safer place and help countries move past their dark histories, and having recently celebrated 10 years of operations in Cambodia, they’re showing no signs of slowing down in their mission to help the country become completely mine-free. Taking a trip to APOPO’s visitor center is especially enlightening when taking in the context of some of Siem Reap’s other important historical sites, such as the genocide museum and the killing fields. Visiting will give you a raw, unfiltered look into the horrors of the Pol Pot regime and an appreciation for Cambodia’s emergence from the dark history it is still facing the consequences of.

GET INVOLVED:
If you would like to support APOPO’s work, you can do so here.

Ryan Yianni