Iran’s Rare Cheetah Cub Dies of Kidney Failure

In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, Iran's only Asiatic cheetah cub in captivity, Pirouz, looks on at the Pardisan Park in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 21, 2022. (Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA via AP)
In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, Iran's only Asiatic cheetah cub in captivity, Pirouz, looks on at the Pardisan Park in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 21, 2022. (Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA via AP)
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Iran’s Rare Cheetah Cub Dies of Kidney Failure

In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, Iran's only Asiatic cheetah cub in captivity, Pirouz, looks on at the Pardisan Park in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 21, 2022. (Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA via AP)
In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, Iran's only Asiatic cheetah cub in captivity, Pirouz, looks on at the Pardisan Park in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 21, 2022. (Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA via AP)

The last survivor of three critically endangered Asiatic cheetah cubs born in captivity in Iran died in hospital Tuesday from kidney failure, state media reported.

"Pirouz who was admitted to the Central Veterinary Hospital due to kidney failure last Thursday, died after undergoing dialysis," the official IRNA news agency said.

"The loss of Pirouz and ineffectiveness of all the efforts made by the treatment team in the past few days to save the animal saddens me and all my colleagues, and we apologize to everyone that we could not keep this animal alive," hospital director Omid Moradi told IRNA.

Pirouz, meaning "victorious" in Persian, had become a source of national pride since its birth in May last year at a wildlife refuge in northeastern Iran.

Two other cubs born with him died that same month, but Pirouz survived at a time when only a dozen members of the species are left in the wild.

The Asiatic cheetah -- Acinonyx jubatus venaticus -- is threatened with "dangerous ongoing decline" and is critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

According to a 2017 study referenced by IUCN, the sub-species is confined only to Iran where there were "less than 50 mature individuals."

The world's fastest land animal, capable of reaching speeds of 120 kilometers (74 miles) per hour, cheetahs once stalked habitats from the eastern reaches of India to the Atlantic coast of Senegal.

They are still found in parts of southern Africa but have practically disappeared from North Africa and Asia.

Iran began a United Nations-supported cheetah protection program in 2001.

In January 2022, deputy environment minister Hassan Akbari said Iran was home to only a dozen Asiatic cheetahs -- down from an estimated 100 in 2010.

Iran's environment department had hoped the birth of the cubs in captivity would help increase the cheetah population.



Pakistan's Punjab Province Shuts Schools in Smog-hit Main Cities

Commuters ride along a highway engulfed in smog, on the outskirts of Lahore - AFP
Commuters ride along a highway engulfed in smog, on the outskirts of Lahore - AFP
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Pakistan's Punjab Province Shuts Schools in Smog-hit Main Cities

Commuters ride along a highway engulfed in smog, on the outskirts of Lahore - AFP
Commuters ride along a highway engulfed in smog, on the outskirts of Lahore - AFP

Pakistan's most populated province of Punjab on Wednesday ordered schools closed in smog-hit main cities, shifting them to online learning until November 17, as the country battles record air pollution.

The province, home to more than half of Pakistan's 240 million people, had earlier closed primary schools, curbed tuk-tuks and shuttered some barbeque restaurants in megacity Lahore.

On Wednesday, it ordered all schools to be shut in several major cities enveloped by smog, a mix of fog and pollutants caused by low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning and winter cooling, AFP reported.

"Looking at the predicted air wind and air quality index we are closing all higher secondary schools," said Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in Punjab during a press conference in Lahore.

The decision will affect millions of children in some of Pakistan's largest cities, including Punjab's provincial capital Lahore.

The minister said on Wednesday the air quality index (AQI), which measures a range of pollutants, spiked above 1,000 -- well above the level of 300 considered 'dangerous' - according to data from IQAir.

"This morning's AQI crossed 1,100," Aurangzeb said.

"I appeal to citizens, that for god's sake don't come out of your houses," she said adding that wearing a face mask was made mandatory in affected cities.

She also announced that half of the staff in public and private offices will work remotely.

"It's like a slow horror movie, constantly creeping up behind you," said Ayishm Ahmed Khan Burki, a 22-year-old student who transferred her courses from Lahore to capital Islamabad after suffering from allergies and asthma.

"Everyone has a right to clean air," she told AFP.

- Lahore admits 900 patients -

Seasonal crop burn-off by farmers on the outskirts of Lahore also contributes to toxic air the WHO says can cause strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases.

The minister said in Lahore alone, more than 900 patients including children and the elderly were admitted in hospitals on Tuesday.

"Colds and fevers have become so widespread that everyone is heading to the hospitals," Muhammad Yousaf, a 50-year-old banker told AFP in Lahore.

"There are long queues at the hospitals' receptions, and patients are facing extended waiting times for their turn".

Other affected cities include Faisalabad, Pakistan's third-largest, as well as Multan and Gujranwala.

The decision follows last month's announcement by the provincial environmental protection agency of new restrictions in four "hot spots" in Lahore. Tuk-tuks with polluting two-stroke engines were banned, along with restaurants that operate barbecues without filters.

Pollution in excess of levels deemed safe by the WHO shortens the life expectancy of Lahore residents by an average of 7.5 years, according to the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute.

According to UNICEF, nearly 600 million children in South Asia are exposed to high levels of air pollution and half of childhood pneumonia deaths are associated with air pollution.