VIDEO: Iran cheetah Pirouz playing in Pardisan Wildlife Park

Asiatic cheetahs once roamed across Central Asia from the Middle East to Russia, but now have been spotted only in Iran, according to the International Society for Endangered Cats Canada.

Iran is one of the last countries in the world where Asiatic cheetahs live in the wild and began a United Nations-supported protection program in 2001.

Environmentalists say the world’s fastest animal has been the victim of drought, hunting, habitat destruction, and scarcity of prey due to hunters in the remote and arid central plateaus.

The Iranian Cheetah Society says the only remaining habitats left for the majestic cats is the Miandasht Wildlife Refuge and the Touran Biosphere Reserve in northeast Iran.