Lobat’s interest in saving big cats from extinction was first sparked in 1990s when visiting her father in India. Award winning conservationist, Dr. Hormoz Asadi, was well known and respected by the rich, poor, and most everyone he met in India – save for the poachers. In 1993, Hormoz Asadi made India’s biggest bust of 400 kg of tiger and leopard parts and skins, and was honored by the Indian government, which is documented in the BBC documentary by Mike Birkhead, Tiger Crisis. After a decade of helping India save their big cats, Dr. Asadi decided it was time to focus on the last remaining Asiatic cheetahs, which meant going home to his own country, Iran.
Interestingly, while Lobat Asadi was given the unusual name that means, enchantress of the lions, it was not until 2020, that Lobat became single minded about saving Asiatic cheetahs. “When I found out that there are only 50 or Asiatic cheetahs existing in the wild, I kept asking myself – what would my dad do?” Dr. George Schaller, the first person to study the lions in the African Serengeti in 1967 explains that local village dogs, encroaching highways, habitat loss and international politics are actively working against the cheetah’s survival in Iran. Dr. Schaller is the only Western scholar to have been allowed into Iran over 5 times and has been a mentor to both Lobat and Hormoz Asadi ever since, and you can read about his stance as well as Lobat’s to cheetah conservation in Iran in National Geographic, November 2020 article, How Iran is Killing its Once Thriving Environment.
Biography
Lobat Asadi is an author, actress, wildlife spokesperson and documentary filmmaker who founded the Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Project – a multimedia project. She is versed in the Meisner acting method, Middle Eastern dance, as well as a classically trained musician of the Persian setar (lute). Her current project, a documentary film, “The Last Cheetah”(2022), is an investigation into the culture, policies and science, is in pre-production (2022). As the daughter of the man who initiated cheetah conservation in Iran, Dr. Hormoz Asadi, Lobat investigates personal as well as public records, alongside interviews from experts. Exclusive interviews with National Geographic Society’s lifetime award winner, Dr. George B. Schaller, who is the only American scientists to have been invited to Iran numerous times, will outline what can still be done to help save Iranian cheetahs.
Lobat is also a published author and journalist. Her recent children’s book “Marita the Cheetah,” (2022) is based on the true story of an orphaned cheetah cub that was rescued by her father in Iran. Recognized as an Asiatic cheetah expert, Lobat was interviewed by National Geographic magazine, and has contributed to textbooks and other publications. She consults for the International Union of Conservation for Nature, IUCN, and nonprofit organizations concerned about Asiatic cheetahs. Lobat is a regular guest on podcasts including that of Carol Baskin, of Big Cat Rescue, as well as Dash Radio. On Earth Day, 2022, Lobat made a passionate plea to audiences to support conservation and shared her innovative arts-based approach to helping save on the televised screening of “Home,” a documentary about climate change narrated by Glenn Close.
