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2024 marked two years since the arrival of the first African cheetahs to India in a landmark experiment. Eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 cheetahs from South Africa were imported in two batches in 2022 and 2023.
The existence of the cheetahs at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh was a mixed bag. Down To Earth (DTE) took a look at two years of the project and how it has fared so far.
Weeks after Namibian cheetah Aasha gave birth to a litter of cubs, another cheetah Jwala gave birth to four cubs in January at KNP, making it the third litter since its arrival in India.
Another cheetah brought to India from Namibia died on January 16, 2024, at KNP. Freddie, rechristened as Shaurya, was brought to India in September 2022.
The fourth cheetah litter in India at KNP and the first of South African cheetahs were born in March of this year as well.
After nearly two years of bringing cheetahs from Africa to India, 26 of them, including 13 sub-adults and cubs, are still waiting to be released into the wild, DTE reported.
More than a year after the introduction of the cheetah, DTE had an elaborate conversation with Ravi Chellam, chief executive, Metastring Foundation and coordinator of the Biodiversity Collaborative, on the challenges entailing conservation of big cats. Chellam pointed out the project has become a glorified safari.
There were more losses in the cheetah introduction programme in India in August. One of the six cubs born to South African cheetah Gamini succumbed to spinal injuries.
A wildlife activist alleged irregularities in Kuno’s cheetah project in a letter to Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). Ajay Dubey has raised concerns over mismanagement at KNP, alleging violations of the Wildlife Protection Act and negligence in cheetah care
The Government of India envisions the combined areas of the KNP and the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as “forming the larger cheetah metapopulation landscape under the umbrella of Project cheetah in the long term (within the next 25 years)”, a report released by the Centre to mark two years of Project Cheetah stated.
After more than a year in captivity, NTCA announced that two South African cheetahs, Agni and Vaayu, are set to be released in Madhya Pradesh’s Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, though not into free-ranging conditions. The release of the remaining cheetahs would take place in phases.
