One more death, what is ailing Project Cheetah?

Vibha Sharma

Chandigarh, July 12

One more African cheetah died at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh yesterday, making it the seventh death in the past few months. Cheetah Tejas, who was brought from South Africa in February, died in captivity in KNP in the Sheopur district.

According to reports, the monitoring team observed injuries on the neck of Tejas following which they alerted doctors. Tejas, however, could not be saved. He was in an enclosure at the time of the incident, according to reports.

So far, four adults and three cubs have died since the launch of an ambitious inter-continental translocation project under which 20 cheetahs were brought to India undermixedreactions. While some welcomed the project, many experts voiced concerns overpotential risks from other predators and not enough prey.

Given that the four adult cheetahs died in captivity even before they were released, experts have also criticised the attempts to mate in captivity.

While four adult cheetahs died due to different reasons, including kidney failure and mating injuries, three cubs born in March died in May due to weather and other reasons. The cubs were found to be weak, underweight and extremely dehydrated.

Cheetahs don’t thrive in captivity

Experts say cheetahs do not thrive under captive conditions. They are also known to suffer diseases like gastritis, kidney, liver and heart ailments and neurological disorders which are usually reported in lesser number in other captive big cats.

So far 20 cheetahs from two African nations—South Africa and Namibia—have been brought to revive their population seven decades after they went extinct in the country.

Eight Namibian cheetahs arrived in September last year while the second batch of 12 South African cheetahs was received in February.

While experts raised concerns over lack of space in Kuno, officialstoo have raised apprehensions over the lack of manpower at the national park. Apprehending the risk in keeping all cheetahs at one place and the deaths, in April MP forest officials also wrote to the Centre, requesting for an alternative habitat.

Amid criticism over theimplementation of the project, the Centre in May appointed a new steering committee of national and international experts to review and monitor the project.

Criticism of the project

The project has suffered several setbacks since its implementation.In May, a female cheetah, Daksha from South Africa, died following a “violent interaction” with two male cheetahs, possibly during mating.

Another cheetah, Uday, died due to illness in April. In March, Namibian cheetah Sasha died of kidney complications. Sasha was said to have contracted the ailment during captivity in Namibia and had been unwell since arriving at Kuno.

In fact, the criticism of the project started even before the arrival of the first batch with some experts raising doubts about the capability of the African guests to settle in their new environment amid predator pressure and adverse climatic conditions.

While cheetahs areknown to breed rapidly under good conditions, in reserves with high levels of leopard and other predator populations, inter-species competition was expected. There were also apprehensions about mating in captivity and cubs born in India surviving high temperatures and competing predators.

According to some critics, the project was “hurried, based on poor science and research and implemented without proper preparations.” They also allege that it was “hurried to meet deadlines and carried out without adequate peer review”.

The prolonged captivity, first in Africa and then in India, was contrary to the basic requirements of a big cat to lead a free-ranging life, they said.

Congress’ Jairam Ramesh has been taking veiled digs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over theproject, calling him “Shikari Shambu”.

Yesterday, the former environment minister struck again saying: “After three adults and three cubs, Tejas is the seventh cheetah to have died in Kuno. Not one word of grief from Shikari Shambhu on these losses. Of course he has been mum on the catastrophe in Manipuras well.”

PM Modi had released the first batch of cheetahs in September 2022.