On Sunday (17 September), the Government of India released an official report on the completion of one year of the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction programme (Cheetah Project). According to the government report, four of the six criteria established for assessing the short-term success of India’s Cheetah Project have already been met.
The report highlighted that the initial progress has largely followed a favourable trajectory and it is well within the envisioned limitations. It asserted that the project is on the right path to becoming a successful large carnivore conservation translocation and population establishment endeavour.
The report read, “It cannot be overemphasised that the challenges are formidable. However, with concerted efforts by officials and managers from India, Namibia, and South Africa, along with support from the highest offices in all three countries, the project is on its assured path to recovery.”
Last year, the Cheetah Action Plan listed six short-term success criteria on the basis of which the Cheetah Project could be dubbed a success. These include –
- 50% survival of the introduced cheetahs for the first year establishment of home ranges in Kuno National Park
- successful cheetah reproduction in the wild
- survival of wild-born cheetah cubs past one year
- successful F1 generation breeding, F1 stands for the first generation of offspring
- cheetah-based revenues contributing to community livelihoods.
The report informed that the project has achieved four of these criteria. These include – 50% survival of the introduced cheetahs, establishment of home ranges, birth of cubs in Kuno National Park, and direct revenue contributions to local communities. The latter has been achieved through the engagement of cheetah trackers and indirect appreciation of land value in surrounding areas.
Last year, on his birthday, 17 September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated 8 Namibian cheetahs to India while launching the Cheetah Project in Kuno National Park, Sheopur. Since then, twenty cheetahs have been imported from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno in two batches – one in September last year and the second in February 2023.
Since March, six of these 20 adult cheetahs have died due to various reasons. In May, three of the four cubs born to a female Namibian cheetah died because of extreme heat, in a way, taking the overall tally to 9.
The remaining cub is being raised under human care for future wilding. The government report noted that all cheetah individuals released in the wild “fared well and showed no aberrations in their natural behaviour”.
No Cheetah died because of Radio collars or hunting/poaching
Earlier on 15 September, Head of Project Cheetah SP Yadav refuted reports that linked some of the Cheetah deaths with radio collars. He firmly stated that “not a single Cheetah died due to radio collars.” He also highlighted that no cheetah died at the Kuno National Park due to “hunting or poaching”.
Speaking with ANI, Yadav said, “A total of 20 cheetahs were brought from Namibia and South Africa out of which 14 (adults) are completely healthy and are doing well. Four cheetahs were born on the soil of Bharat and one of them is now six months old and is doing fine. The three cubs died because of climatic factors.”
He added that this was the first wild-to-wild translocation and there were a lot of challenges in it. Despite multiple challenges in such long-distance translocation where a cheetah may have died because it is a sensitive animal no such death occurred here and the translocation was very seamless.
The government report further explained that a few mortalities of cheetah occurred from bacterial infection, maggots, renal failure, injuries, and heat.
However, the report categorically stated that no unnatural deaths took place in free-ranging conditions despite some cheetahs traversing long distances in human-dominated areas. It added that such post-release mortalities are common in a project of this magnitude in Africa.
Earlier in August 2023, Srishti Choudhary of News18 prepared a detailed report after extensive deliberations with subject matter experts from South Africa and Namibia.
The media report highlighted that when cheetahs were being resettled in South Africa in 1966, a large number of them died. In fact, the process took 26 long years to complete during which more than 200 cheetahs lost their lives.
South Africa and Namibia is considered more suitable habitat for the Cheetah population having around 40% of the world’s cheetah population. Even then, South Africa alone registers the death of 60-70 Cheetahs every year.
Highlighting the example of Cheetah deaths in African habitats, experts have reiterated that the death of cheetahs in Kuno National Park is not unusual.
Further, the experts have emphasised the need to increase the ambit of the project stating that now the project has to look beyond Kuno National Park as its area is small for a big cat like Cheetah.
According to experts, apart from Kuno National Park, the Government of India will also have to look at Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and Mukundara Hills National Park in Rajasthan which are controlled places. A large number of animals like deer, chital, barashingha reside there and the presence of these animals creates ideal conditions for large predatory creatures.
They have also warned that before registering an increase in the Cheetah population, such wild-to-wild translocation generally witnessed a dip in predatory population in the initial phase. They have stated that the real breeding of Cheetahs in India may start in the year 2024, which will have more chances of survival as female Cheetahs will have become more adaptable to the Indian climate and its new habitat.
There are media reports that cheetahs will continue to be brought to India from South Africa and Namibia for the next 10 years and their number can go up to 100. Because the greater the number of Cheetah brought in, the faster they can be prepared to survive and reproduce here.
Of the five big cat species in the world, four are found in India. The Cheetah Project plans to rehabilitate the cheetah species which had become extinct in India seven decades ago. The project which started on 17 September day last year, is largely following a favourable trajectory, and its success could turn out to be a major templet for wild-to-wild translocation of large carnivores.
