Slender, graceful and best known as the fastest land mammal, the cheetah appears to be a loser in the race for survival. Just about 100 years ago, the cheetah used to roam Asia but they have vanished, except for a few in Iran and Pakistan. They are extinct in most parts of North Africa. Today, some 1,300 cheetahs live in captivity and an estimated 12,000 in the wild.

The survival of cheetahs in other areas in Africa is being threatened too. Cheetahs inhabit only open grasslands and need a large home range because of their hunting technique and prey requirement. In Africa, open grasslands are being converted rapidly to farms and ranches, resulting in the cat preying on livestock. Farmers and ranchers naturally kill them to protect their own interest. As one cattle rancher put it “My heart pumps blood. One day you feel that the cheetah also has the right to stay here. But you get angry, and the moment you see a cheetah, you start shooting.”