TEHRAN, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Pirouz, the only survivor of three Asiatic cheetah cubs born in Iran last year in captivity, died on Tuesday of kidney failure, the official news agency IRNA reported.
Amir Moradi, head of the Central Veterinary Hospital of Iran, announced the saddening news in a video clip, saying the loss of the 10-month-old cub and the ineffectiveness of all the efforts made by the treatment team over the past days to save him saddened him and all his colleagues.
He apologized for failing to save Pirouz, which means "victorious" in Farsi.
Pirouz had been transferred to a hospital since Thursday due to suffering from kidney failure. He died during the process of dialysis.
Pirouz was born in May last year at a wildlife refuge in northeastern Iran along with two other cubs who died a few days later after their birth.
Due to the extinction risk the species is faced with, as only a dozen Asiatic cheetahs are said to have been left in the wild. Great care was paid to protect Pirouz ever since he was born and the cub soon became very popular in the country.
He was supposed to be released into its wildlife habitat at the age of one. ■
