The experts have alleged that their involvement has been minimised ever since Yadavendradev Jhala, who conceptualised and led the project, was removed
On August 2, 2023, a cheetah named Dhatri was found dead at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh. This is the third cheetah death within a month and ninth in total at KNP.
But despite this, Aseem Srivastava, chief wildlife warden, Bhopal, reiterated in the statement that the remaining 14 cheetahs kept in the enclosure are healthy.
Also, cheetah experts from South Africa and Namibia claim that they are now “mere window dressing” for Project Cheetah and are being ignored by the Union government on significant developments that take place.
In a letter accessed by Down to Earth, on July 15, 2023, veterinary wildlife specialist, Adrian Tordiffe, cheetah specialist, Vincent van der Merwe, and wildlife veterinarians Andy Frazer and Mike Toft, addressed the judges in the Supreme Court and alleged that their involvement had been minimised ever since Yadavendradev Jhala, who conceptualised and led the project, was removed.
“As experts from South Africa involved in Project Cheetah, we hereby wish to bring to your attention some serious concerns that we have with regard to the current management of the project and the way in which our expert opinions are being ignored by the Steering Committee of the project,” the letter read.
The experts cited the deaths of male cheetahs, Suraj on July 14 and Tejas on July 11 at KNP in Madhya Pradesh to emphasise that they were being ignored.
They claimed that if they had been kept in the loop, they would have analysed the wounds to help reduce further casualties, which wasn’t the case. Meanwhile, Nirva, a female cheetah whose radio collar went silent a few days ago is still out of the purview of the forest officials.
The team of experts further requested that the collars of each cheetah must be checked and the clinical findings be shared with them in real-time and urged the opening of communication channels.
The experts continued that although they are listed on the Cheetah Project Steering Committee as international experts, they have never been consulted or invited to their meetings.
They also noted that while they would not like to dictate how the cheetahs should be managed in India, they are all invested in the project and working as hard as they can to ensure a successful outcome.
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