Ecostani | Two years of Project Cheetah: More pitfalls than success
If released in the wild, the cheetahs may not be able to compete with close to 80 wild leopards in Kuno, a native flagship predator ranked above cheetah.
On September 17, 2024, it will be two years since the first batch of eight Cheetahs arrived in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park from Namibia, in what was the world’s first attempt to re-wild the big cats in a totally different climatic zone. A dozen more Cheetahs from South Africa arrived later.
The last two years have shown that the big cats have adapted to wet and humid climate conditions — compared to drier African conditions — after a difficult first year when the animals struggled to adjust to the marked differences in weather.
This monsoon the growth of fur on their bodies, which coincides with the winter months of July to September in Africa, has been less, showing physical adjustments. Unable to adjust to the new conditions including high humidity levels during their first monsoon in Kuno in 2023, a few cheetahs succumbed to deadly infections.
It has been different this year because the growth of fur on them was less and dehumidifying conditions were provided in Kuno, officials said.
The Kuno National Park (KNP), named after the river that flows through the wildlife habitat, now has 25 cheetahs — 13 adults and 12 cubs — with only one of them, Pawan, living in the wild within the national park.
As per the Project Cheetah action plan, all the adult big cats in Kuno should have been like Pawan, flourishing in the wild, searching for territory and making the Vindhayas their homes.
That has not happened as the KNP authorities have literally caged these animals in a zoo where they are fed meat on a daily basis, jeopardising their hunting skills. It is rare for a big cat to breed in an enclosure having survived the toughness of the wild.
On paper, Project Cheetah in Kuno has done better than the parameters and goals, which were set before the programme was implemented. The cheetah population has exceeded the anticipated annual growth rate of 5% and the survival rate of 65% is higher than the anticipated rate of 50%.
However, the parameters were for cheetahs living in the wild and not for them in a protected environment with a 6 square kilometre enclosure (Boma) where their movements are being monitored and health facilities are being provided around the clock.
In fact, the animals, known for their speed, have been reduced to Boma (an enclosure for animals) cheetahs.
While the Madhya Pradesh government and Union environment ministry will celebrate September 17 — which is also Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday — claiming success for the project, wildlife experts are sceptical.
Wildlife experts, who were not willing to come on record, said the high-level panel on Cheetahs led by former member secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority, Rajesh Gopal, has failed to provide a date for the release of the adult cheetahs into the wild, even 10 months after they were brought back to the enclosure.
They said the cheetahs in the enclosure are not fit to survive in the wild, as their hunting abilities are compromised. And if they are released in the wild, they may not be able to compete with close to 80 wild leopards in Kuno, a native flagship predator ranked above cheetah.
A quick proliferation of the cheetah population may look good but experts point out that it could lead to inbreeding that increases vulnerability to diseases and reduces gene diversity.
Indications are there that the cheetahs will never be released into the wild with the Madhya Pradesh forest department planning a cheetah safari in Kuno. Roads have been developed to take tourists around the enclosure; resorts and hotels have come up to cater to tourists.
In fact, these developments create an impression that the original idea of bringing cheetahs to Kuno was wildlife tourism — and a scientific experiment to see whether African cheetahs can survive in the Indian wilderness was a facade.
The MP government is planning to acquire more cheetahs from Africa for a Kuno-like enclosure in the Gandhi Sagar National Park in Nimuch district for a safari. Also, the park will acquire some excess cheetahs from Kuno to improve gene diversity and survival rates, state government officials said.
The so-called success of Project Cheetah in a Boma in Kuno could lead to a similar demand for importing cheetahs for safaris from other state governments. The Gujarat and Rajasthan governments have approached the external affairs ministry to allow them to import cheetahs to populate grasslands identified by the M K Ranjitsinh committee.
While for politicians and bureaucrats Kuno may be a success, wildlife experts term it a “limited success”, if not a “failure.” A Delhi-based wildlife biologist, who has worked extensively in Kuno for close to 30 years, said: “Kuno has been destroyed for Cheetahs. Now, in the middle of a free-flowing wildlife habitat, we have a big cheetah zoo.”
Chetan Chauhan, national affairs editor, analyses the most important environment and political story in the country this week
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