Asiatic cheetahs on the brink of extinction with only 50 left alive

With UN funds being cut this month, conservationists call for last-ditch effort to save animal which clings on only in Iran

Conservationists have warned that the Asiatic cheetah is on the threshold of extinction following a UN decision to pull funding from conservation efforts to protect it.

Fewer than 50 of the critically endangered carnivores are thought to be left in the wild - all of them in Iran - and scientists fear that without urgent intervention there is little chance of saving one of the planet's most distinctive and graceful hunters.