In Eastern Africa, habitat loss and fragmentation was identified as the primary threat during a conservation strategy workshop (Anon. 2007). Because cheetahs occur at low densities, conservation of viable populations requires large scale land management planning; most existing protected areas are not large enough to ensure the long term survival of cheetahs (Durant 2007).

A depleted wild ungulate prey base is of serious concern in northern Africa (Berzins and Belbachir 2006). Cheetahs which turn to livestock are killed as pests (Claro 2003; Hamdine et al. 2003; Wacher et al. 2005). Conflict with farmers and depletion of the wild prey base are also considered significant threats in parts of Eastern Africa (Anon. 2007).

In Iran, the Asiatic Cheetah A. j. venaticus is threatened indirectly by loss of prey base through human hunting activities. In addition, most protected areas are open to seasonal livestock grazing, which potentially places huge pressure on the resident ungulate populations through disturbance and potential competition (Hunter et al. 2007). Additionally, domestic dogs accompanying the herds present a likely threat to both cheetahs and their prey (H. Ziaie pers. comm. 2008) An emerging threat is the possibility of fragmentation into discontinuous subpopulations as a result of increasing developmental pressures (mining, oil, roads, railways); this is particularly the case in Kavir N.P., currently the north-western limit of the Asiatic Cheetah's range (L. Hunter and L. Marker pers. comm.).

Conflict with farmers and ranchers is the major threat to cheetahs in southern Africa (Purchase et al. 2007). Cheetah are often killed or persecuted because they are a perceived threat to livestock, despite the fact that they cause relatively little damage. In Namibia, very large numbers of cheetahs have been live-trapped and removed by ranchers seeking to protect their livestock (from government permit records, Nowell [1996] calculated that over 9,500 cheetahs were removed from 1978-1995). While removal rates have fallen, in part due to intensified conservation and education efforts, many ranchers still view cheetahs as a problem animal, despite research showing that cheetahs were only responsible for 3% of livestock losses to predators (Marke, 2002). Although cheetah in Iran have been killed because of predation on livestock, since 2003, there has been no direct evidence of killing cheetahs (Hunter et al. 2007), though it is likely most incidents go unreported.

Cheetahs are also vulnerable to being caught in snares set for other species (Ray et al. 2005; Anon. 2007).

Another threat to the cheetah is interspecific competition with other large predators, especially lions. On the open, short-grass plains of the Serengeti, juvenile mortality can be as high as 95%, largely due to predation by lions (Laurenson 1994). However, mortality rates are lower in more closed habitats (Caro in press).

CITES allows legal trade in live animals and hunting trophies under an Appendix I quota system (annual quotas: Namibia - 150; Zimbabwe - 50; Botswana - 5). This was accepted by CITES as a way to enhance the economic value of cheetahs on private lands and provide an economic incentive for their conservation (Nowell 1996). The global captive cheetah population is not self-sustaining; cheetahs breed poorly in captivity and in 2001 30% of the captive population was wild-caught (Marker 2002). While analysis of trade records in the CITES database shows that these countries have reported almost no live exports since the late 1990s, Purchase et al. (2007) are concerned that there is a substantial illegal cross-border trade in live animals. There is also concern about illegal trade in skins, as well as capture of live cubs for trade to the Middle East (Anon. 2007). There is an increasing trade in cubs from north-east Africa into the Middle East (Amir 2005), but there is currently little trade in cubs from the Sahel region, where it was previously considered a major problem (K. de Smet pers. comm. 2007).

Cheetahs are active during the daytime and there is concern that they can be driven off their kills by tourist cars crowding around, or mothers separated from their cubs. Burney (1980) conducted a study and concluded that tourist cars did not seem to harm cheetahs, and in fact sometimes helped, as cheetah chases more often ended in a kill when there were cars around, distracting prey, providing cover from which to stalk, or otherwise waking cheetahs up to notice prey in the area. However, tourist numbers have risen sharply by then, and its potential impact on cheetahs remains a concern (Caro 1994; Anon. 2007).

The Eastern African cheetah conservation strategy (Anon. 2007) identified four sets of constraints to mitigating these threats across a large spatial scale. Political constraints include lack of land use planning, insecurity and political instability in some ecologically important areas, and lack of political will to foster cheetah conservation. Economic constraints include lack of financial resources to support conservation, and lack of incentives for local people to conserve wildlife. Social constraints include negative conceptions of cheetahs, lack of capacity to achieve conservation, lack of environmental awareness, rising human populations, and social changes leading to subdivision of land and subsequent habitat fragmentation. These potentially mutable human constraints contrast with several biological constraints which are characteristic of cheetahs and cannot be changed, including wide-ranging behaviour, negative interactions with other large carnivores, and potential susceptibility to disease.

Disease is a potential threat to the cheetah (Anon. 2007), as its reduced genetic diversity can increase a population's susceptibility (O'Brien et al. 1983). However, the most serious disease mortality thus far documented in wild cheetahs was from naturally occurring anthrax in Namibia's Etosha National Park; cheetahs, unlike other predators, do not scavenge carcasses of ungulates killed by anthrax, and thus had no built-up immunity when they preyed upon springbok sick with the disease (Lindeque et al. 1998). The cheetah's low density may offer some measure of protection against infectious disease; for example, cheetahs were not affected by an outbreak of Canine Distemper Virus in the Serengeti National Park which killed over 1/3 of the lion population. Serological surveys of cheetahs on Namibian farmland indicate some exposure and survival of the disease (Marker 2002).