The release of the Kuno cheetahs - currently lodged in enclosures - into the wild again will be considered only after the onset of winter based on advice of experts, member secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), S.P. Yadav, who is also head of Project Cheetah, told THE WEEK.
Even as the ambitious cheetah reintroduction project completes one year on Sunday, all the surviving 15 cheetahs remain lodged in enclosures (bomas) at Kuno National Park following the closely spaced deaths of two cheetahs in July second week. Ten of these cheetahs had earlier been released into the wild.
In all 20 cheetahs – eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa had been brought to Kuno on September 17, 2022 and February 18, 2023 respectively under the ambitious inter-continental cheetah translocation project. On March 23, cheetah Jwala had given birth to four cubs – taking the total population to 24. But soon after, series of deaths started in Kuno – with six adults and three cubs succumbing between March 27 and August 3.
Ten of the 13 cheetahs who had been released in the wild between March and June were brought back to enclosures following the alarm raised after deaths of two cheetahs in July.
The bringing back of cheetahs from the wild was looked upon as a retrograde step in the ambitious project that aims at survival of the animals in natural conditions in the wild.
However, the 14 other translocated cheetahs and a cub born on Indian soil, though in enclosures, are surviving and healthy, Yadav said. This amounts for 70 per cent survival of the introduced cheetahs at the end of one year.
Yadav said that thus at the end of one year, the project could meet four out of the six short-term success criteria – the primary one being 50 per cent survival of the introduced population for one year. “It is a challenging project and the early indications are encouraging,” Yadav said.
He mentioned that there were six criteria to measure the short-term success of the project according to the Cheetah Action Plan. Apart from 50 pc survival, the criteria included that the cheetahs establish home ranges in Kuno National Park; successfully reproduce in the wild; some wild born cubs survive for over one year; the first generation breeds successfully and cheetah-based revenues contribute to community livelihoods.
“Out of the above 6 criteria, the project has already met four criteria namely: 50% survival of introduced cheetahs, establishment of home ranges, birth of cubs in Kuno and the project has contributed revenue to the local communities directly through engagement of cheetah trackers and indirectly by way of appreciation of land value in the surrounding areas of Kuno,” Yadav said.
Success story
The project head said that the challenging inter-continental, wild to wild, cheetah translocation by air, from Namibia and South Africa to India was the first ever such effort undertaken in the world to rectify the ecologically wrong done in the past.
“Normally intercontinental long distance cheetah translocations have inherent risk of mortalities, however, eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 cheetahs from South Africa were successfully translocated to the Kuno National Park. Most of the cheetahs are adapting well to the Indian conditions and showing normal qualities like hunting, exploring the landscape, protecting their kill, avoiding/chasing other carnivores like leopards and hyena, establishing own territory, internecine fights, courtship and mating and no negative interactions with human beings,” he said.
Also, one female cheetah has given birth to cubs on Indian soil after 75 years. One surviving cub is now 6 months old and doing well, showing a normal growth pattern. So far no cheetah has died due to causes like poaching, hunting, snaring, accident, poisoning, and retaliatory killing. This has been possible due to huge community support from the local villages, Yadav said.
The Project Cheetah has mobilised the local community and provided them with livelihood options by direct and indirect employment. The community support is overwhelming, he mentioned.
Two Namibian female cheetahs, with wild origin but reared in captivity, are showing signs of wild behaviour due to re-wilding efforts. After some more evaluation and monitoring they may be released in the wild, Yadav said.
“The reintroduction of cheetahs will bring much-needed focus to the conservation of the country's dry grasslands and will also generate job opportunities for local communities. The success of this project will open up possibilities for re-wilding initiatives worldwide. It stands as a unique endeavor, being one of the few projects to reintroduce a lost species through intercontinental efforts,” he said.
Next batch to be settled at Gandhi Sagar sanctuary
Madhya Pradesh is likely to get the next batch of cheetahs to be brought under the project as there is plan to settle them at Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) bordering Mandsaur and Neemuch districts in the state.
“The carrying capacity of Kuno is about 20 cheetahs; Kuno at present has 15 cheetahs. We need multiple sites in the country as per the Cheetah Action Plan to establish viable metapopulation. Gandhi Sagar will be the next cheetah habitat. No shifting of Cheetah from Kuno is envisaged. The next batch of 12-14 cheetahs to be imported from South Africa will be introduced in Gandhi Sagar WLS. The Gandhi Sagar site is expected to be ready by November-December 2023; after evaluation of its readiness the decision to import cheetah will be taken,” the project head said.
He added that the Project Cheetah is long term and 12-14 cheetahs are planned to be brought from South Africa/Namibia/other African countries, annually for the next 5 years and after that, as and when required.
Apart from Gandhi Sagar, another alternative habitat site is being prepared at Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in (Sagar district) of MP.
Further, there is a plan of setting up Conservation breeding of Cheetah Centre, Cheetah Research Centre, Interpretation Centre, Cheetah Management Training Centre and Cheetah Safari, Yadav mentioned.
Radio collars not cause of death
Yadav underlined that radio collars on the cheetahs were not the cause of deaths of any of them as postulated after deaths of two cheetahs due to Septicemia in July.
“Radio collars are important scientific tools used in the world to monitor animals. All cheetahs, fitted with standard quality radio collars, were imported from Namibia and South Africa. Due to infections of flies due to ticks and bruises on the skin, collars have been removed from some animals; collars are not the cause of death of any cheetah,” Yadav told THE WEEK.
He also added that the high temperature with humidity, winter coat developed by some cheetah led to ticks attack, laying eggs by flies, maggots and bacterial infections leading to septicaemia - caused death.
“All cheetahs were caught, brought to enclosures and have been administered necessary medicines. All 15 cheetahs including a cub are doing fine now. Radio collars will be installed before releasing them in the wild. Besides Cheetahs, several Leopards are also fitted with radio collars in Kuno for monitoring purposes and none of them is facing any problem,” he added.
‘Set up centralized control centre; train special team’
Meanwhile, a report of a forest officers’ team that was sent to the Kuno National Park by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to study the implementation of the Project Cheetah, has suggested several improvements in the project implementation.
Madhya Pradesh chief wildlife warden (CWLW) Aseem Shrivastava wrote to the director of Project Cheetah in Kuno National Park on August 17, highlighting the overviews and suggestions made by the officers’ team. Activist Ajay Dubey accessed the letter under right to information (RTI) Act.
Among the major suggestions include establishing a centralised control centre with dedicated and trained staff with wireless communication, CCTV surveillance, radio telemetry surveillance, observation registers and records. Also, top officials need to make overall management more scientific and meticulous.
A special team needs to be trained at the forest guard level along with a researcher from WII assigned to each Cheetah. The assigned team should be allowed to continue with the same individual Cheetah at least for the duration of the action plan or at least for next five years, the study team suggested. They also underlined continued involvement of ‘cheetah mitras’ (supporting community members) in the project.
The officers’ team also recommended ‘habituating cheetahs to a limited number of people and other selected elements like vehicles of particular type, riding elephants, sniffer dogs etc, through a carefully planned process of controlled habituation’.
Integrity of outer fence critical and daily checking should be scrupulously ensured, not just by casual labourers, but also by responsible staff such as forest guard.
More widespread use of camera traps in monitoring has to be encouraged and field staff/trackers/selected Cheetah Mitras should be trained in their deployment and maintenance, the team further suggested in its report, also stressing on enhancing local livelihoods through participatory eco-tourism initiatives.
The team pointed out lack of standard operating guidelines/protocol to ensure scientific methods of monitoring involving all teams on ground and that the additional staff taken on deputation and outsourced watchers were not trained for approaching the animals and making detailed observation.
They also suggested developing a format for reporting health parameters and maintenance of health registers for each animal and mandatory health observation at a fixed frequency as suggested by South African and Namibian experts may be put in place. Health status monitoring should be done jointly by Indian, SA and Namibian veterinarians.
