GS Paper III

News Excerpt:

The year 2023 has been eventful for Project Cheetah, 20 of the big cats from Namibia and South Africa found a new home in Kuno National Park, but wildlife experts and scientists are concerned about the progress of this introduction project.

Objectives:

• Establish breeding cheetah populations in safe habitats across its historical range and manage them as a meta-population.
• Use the cheetah as a charismatic flagship and umbrella species to garner resources for restoring open forest and savanna systems that will benefit biodiversity and ecosystem services from these ecosystems.
• Enhance India’s capacity to sequester carbon through ecosystem restoration activities in cheetah conservation areas and thereby contribute towards the global climate change mitigation goals.
• Use the ensuing opportunity for eco-development and ecotourism to enhance local community livelihoods.
• Manage any conflict by cheetah or other wildlife with local communities within cheetah conservation areas expediently through compensation, awareness, and management actions to win community support.

Timeline and the status of the project:

• In the Cheetah Action Plan, prepared in January 2022, the Union Government anticipated that about half the translocated wild cats could be lost due to attacks by leopards, poaching, road accidents, poisoning and other unnatural causes.
• After more than a year following the first arrivals in September 2022, Government officials and those involved in Project Cheetah laud it as a massive success, claiming that more than 50 percent of the big cats (14 of 20) have survived.
• Addressing the six deaths, the authorities note that a few mortalities of the translocated cheetahs occurred due to bacterial infection, maggots, renal failure, injuries, heat, septicaemia or mating-related injuries.

Why are Cheetahs dying?

• The cheetahs that were released were first introduced to a hunting boma (enclosure) in Kuno National Park and subsequently allowed in the wild. 
  • At least two of the eight Namibian cheetahs have never been released since arriving in India in September 2022. 
  • Such confinement is unfamiliar for these cheetahs, which were either free-ranging individuals or roamed in large fenced reserves.
• Lack of transparency and effective management in handling the surviving cheetahs.
• The chief wildlife warden of Madhya Pradesh and former dean at Wildlife Institute of India (WII) along with others whom played key roles in bringing and supporting the wellbeing of cheetahs, are now dissociated from Project Cheetah.

• The cats, like other felines, would have also developed winter coats anticipating winter in South Africa, as against the monsoon period in India. 

• • The sudden and excess rains caused moisture in their collars (tracking device around neck) due to winter coats.

• • Due to lack of inspection and timely diagnosis, it led to infestation of flies, maggots and thus causing the deaths.
• The researchers claim that the death of the three cubs was due to negligence on part of the officials.
• According to Big Cat Experts, keeping cheetahs under confinement for long times and frequent tranquilising for bringing them back from the open range as seen at Kuno, may be disastrous for the animals. 
• The six sites including 1) Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve, 2) Shergarh Wildlife Sanctuary, in Rajasthan and, 3) Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, 4) Kuno National Park, 5) Madhav National Park and 6) Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh for a preliminary assessment as potential sites for cheetah reintroduction, were inspected, but Kuno National park (KNP) was inspected the least among all.
• For the first two translocations, cheetah mitras (friends of the cheetah) were deputed in 55 villages around KNP, but these cheetah mitras dropped from 400 to 40 in a year.
• Local village communities have pointed to the lack of prey for the cheetahs, which would lead them to move farther in search of food and endanger domesticated animals living in inhabited areas. 

Steps taken to address the dying cheetahs:

• In May 2023, the Supreme Court took cognisance of the deaths and reiterated the need to avoid them. 
• The SC also questioned whether the cheetahs needed to be shifted to a more suitable habitat, such as in Rajasthan.
• The Cheetah Project Steering Committee, a group of Indian and international experts to monitor and manage Project Cheetah was constituted by the NTCA.
• All the surviving free-ranging cheetahs were immediately recaptured and rushed to the enclosure.
• The government has planned to prepare the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh by the end of 2023 to release more cheetahs translocated from South Africa. 
• Indian officials have expressed interest in looking for other countries in North Africa that would be willing to give its cheetahs, which ideally do not develop winter coats during the Indian monsoon. 
• The Union government in December 2023 approached Kenya, for importing more cheetahs. 
• India also plans to help the government of Iran with the conservation of the Asiatic cheetah in a yet-to-be-announced initiative.
• The Steering Committee in October 2023 decided not to release the cheetahs in the wild unless an adequate prey base was established of 35 to 50 animals per sq km.
• The annual report of Project Cheetah also mentions the need to develop the Kuno habitat to protect the imported wild cats and eventually develop it as a cheetah source area that would replenish the declining sink populations of cheetahs beyond the national park.

Conclusion:

Project Cheetah's introduction of African cheetahs to India has faced challenges, with several deaths attributed to various causes. Despite setbacks, efforts are underway to improve management, habitat, and prey base to ensure the survival and successful establishment of cheetah populations in the country.