'Cheetah deaths natural': Panel head says Kuno has enough space for big cats

Six more cheetahs to be released in wild starting third week of June

KNP Cheetah at Kuno spotted by members of Cheetah Steering Committee on May 31, 2023 | Twitter

The newly-formed Cheetah Steering Committee has given a go ahead to release six more cheetahs into the wild in the Kuno National Park, having found the arrangements, management and monitoring satisfactory. 

The cheetahs - including a coalition of two males and a female, a pair of a male and a female and a solitary male currently in three separate hunting enclosures - will be released starting June third week, chairman of the committee, Rajesh Gopal told The Week in an exclusive talk. 

Dr Gopal and other members of the steering committee held their first meeting at the KNP on Wednesday and the approval for the release of more cheetahs came at the end of the meeting.

Gopal, secretary general of the Global Tiger Forum and an acclaimed expert on big cats and wildlife, also dismissed the apprehensions regarding space availability and ruled out shifting the existing cheetahs out of the KNP. He said that as much as 6800 square kms of wilderness is available in and around Kuno, including the Madhav National Park and its additional area. KNP itself has an area of about 750 square kms and an additional open stretch of 480 sq kms, Gopal said. This space is quite sufficient for 20 cheetahs as mentioned in the initial action plan on cheetah reintroduction.

"The present set of cheetahs actually needs to be together. Else how do we build the population? We are looking at having 50 cheetahs as part of the plan," Gopal said. The expert also underlined that there was no need to be worried about the long-range wandering and human interface of the cheetahs as it was an expected phenomenon for the big cats, especially cheetahs that are known to be very active animals. 

"They (cheetahs released in the wild) have to be monitored and brought back (within the area of KNP), but there is nothing to be excited or worried about their human interface. They will normally advertise their presence and stabilize and settle by two to three months," Gopal said. 

Currently, seven of the 17 surviving cheetahs are open in the wild. One female cheetah has traveled to the Madhav National Park and continues to wander there for the past several days. Two more are also wandering far, but four are keeping close to the fencing of the bomas – the large enclosures where they are kept before release in the wild. Ten cheetahs continue to be in captivity in the huge hunting enclosures and six of them are ready for release, Gopal said.

Fragmentation analysis 

Before the release, the committee experts will help the KNP authorities come out with a fragmentation analysis of the landscape in and around KNP using state-of-the-art remote sensing data and geographic information system (GIS).

Rajesh Gopal Rajesh Gopal

Gopal said that there have been lots of changes in the landscape in the past 20 years and analysis is necessary to find out the vulnerable areas in context of cheetah movement. So, the changes in landscape – mainly the intactness of green patches, the village clusters, roads, rail, farms and other such components – will be studied. Animals like cheetahs might find areas with water, thick farms of sugarcane with availability of prey like wild boars, more luring than the forest and tend to make home there. So the knowledge of landscape is very important for monitoring the big cats.

Also, the steering committee has asked the KNP authorities to start a community stewardship system ahead of the release of more cheetahs where locals could be trained and paid for patrolling along with the departmental staff. The chairman said that this system was quite successful with the tiger project and there was no reason why it should not be extended to the cheetah project. "Active involvement of citizens in big cat conservation is extremely crucial, especially in open parks (without fencing) of India." 

‘Deaths part of routine event’

On the six deaths (including three newborn cubs) reported within two months, Gopal said that the committee looked into the details of the deaths and found them to be natural. "They were to be expected, one combat death, death due to illness etc. The only thing is that they came one after another in close duration. But these events are part of the routine," he said.

He mentioned that the surviving fourth cub of the cheetah Siyaya is now in good health and soon might be shifted out of the treatment facility and placed in proximity to the mother as per the protocols.

Facilities, management found satisfactory

The chairman mentioned that during the meeting, the Cheetah project authorities made a detailed presentation of the entire journey from the arrival of the animals to the present. The team sought information on various points like protection, monitoring, captivity issues, habitat management, active onsite and off-site management, coordination with officials of other departments (especially collectors of the two districts – Shivpuri and Sheopur where the park and surrounding areas fall), medical facilities etc.

"We found everything satisfactory. The field staff is experienced and capable of taking care of the things. There are nine field personnel for monitoring one cheetah in the wild. The animals are collared and one visual is captured every 24 hours. We will hold monthly meetings and discuss issues as required."

Before meeting, the steering committee members went on a field visit in the park and spotted two female cheetahs (in the hunting enclosures) who had made a kill of a spotting deer and had consumed 70 per cent of it, Gopal said.

The Cheetah Steering Committee was constituted on May 25, amidst reports of frequent deaths of the animals and has total 11 members – seven of them non-government, including Gopal. The major terms of reference for the committee is to review progress, monitor and advise on the cheetah introduction project; opening of the cheetah habitat for eco-tourism and suggest regulations in this regard and to make suggestions on community interface and their involvement in the project activities.

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