Tehran, Iran - The last of three Asiatic cheetah cubs born in captivity in Iran has died, marking a tragic loss for hopes of saving the critically endangered animal.

As the Iranian media reported on Tuesday, the cheetah cub named Pirouz died of kidney failure at a veterinary hospital in Tehran. He was just 10 months old.

As one of the last of his kind, it had attracted a lot of attention in the country.

Pirouz was born last year in a wildlife refuge in Iran's Semnan province along with two other cheetahs. The mother rejected her cubs, and Pirouz's siblings died just days after birth.

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The cub was raised by animal caretakers, but soon after his birth the first health problems appeared, according to media reports.

Last Thursday, the animal was taken to the Central veterinary hospital, and died after suffering kidney failure.

While many mourned the death of the cub and sent their sympathies to the animal's care team, others criticized the government for not acting swiftly enough to save the cub and not working to protect the animals.

According to Iranian authorities, there are only about a dozen Asiatic cheetahs left in the wild. They are listed as critically endangered animals. Iranian environmentalists and animal rights activists have been sounding the alarm for years and warning that the species could become extinct.

In 2001, the United Nations launched a project dedicated to the preservation of the species. Conservationists had hoped breeding in captivity would boost the species.