The death of a number of cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa that had been introduced into an Indian nature reserve last year is a major setback for India, which hopes to fill its forests with the rare cats after the loss of its own native species seven decades ago.
Experts say plastic radio collars could be behind some of the fatalities, as some of the eight cats found dead in central India’s Kuno National Park bore telltale injuries to the neck.
Rajesh Gopal, who heads the project, conceded that collars may have caused the latest deaths in Kuno, where 20 African cheetahs were relocated in an experiment to try and revive India’s vanished population of the world’s fastest mammal.
"All cheetahs fitted with radio collars will now be inspected," Gopal added.
Horrifying to see the kind of injuries the poor cheetahs have. Festering wounds and maggots under their radio collars. After 2 cheetahs died and radio collars were blamed, the collars removed to reveal more were suffering @Anurag_Dwary #cheetahs pic.twitter.com/AtK8iqzl7z
— Gargi Rawat (@GargiRawat) July 18, 2023
Three of four cubs born to a cheetah in the 749 square kilometre park in Madhya Pradesh state also did not make it due to dehydration. The area was experiencing a heat wave at the time.
Last September, India imported eight Namibian cheetahs and five months later flew in 12 more from South Africa.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed their arrival as the world’s first exercise to relocate the big cats across continents. He also promised to expand the nation’s ecosystem and find homes for other sub-species.
Claws out
But the death of eight cheetahs since 23 March has sparked a row.
The government, bristling at allegations of failure, hit back as it faced the unenviable task of capturing the free-ranging cats to remove their collars or replace them with lighter ones.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority insisted the mortalities instead stemmed from episodes like heart attack or kidney failure.
“There are reports in the media attributing these cheetah deaths to other reasons including their radio collars. Such reports are not based on any scientific evidence but are speculation and hearsay,” it asserted.
India’s environment ministry also insisted the cats died of natural causes. Meanwhile one senior Kuno park warden lost his job after he blamed collars for the deaths.
But Jairam Ramesh, a former environment minister and an opposition politician, rejected the assertions as an attempted whitewash.
“The statement is a political one, intended to whitewash management failures and mock conservation science,” Ramesh tweeted.
Crowded park
Conservationist Gopal insisted the deaths of the cheetahs would not unhinge the project and argued that the cats should “fine-tune” their habits to survive in their new environment.
But experts say Kuno park is not big enough to avoid territorial clashes.
In April, an adult male cheetah broke out of its enclosure in Kuno and was tracked down in Jhansi, 130 kilometres away.
“The project is based on poor science and completely unviable conservation goals,” wildlife expert Ravi Chellum was quoted as saying by Indian news site The Wire.
“The whole effort is farcical,” big cat expert Ravi Chellam tells @aathiperinchery . “The project is based on poor science and completely unviable conservation goals. What are we trying to do?” #DyingCheetahs
— Seema Chishti (@seemay) July 16, 2023
Must read - https://t.co/3NAnLj01lm pic.twitter.com/5X3wicp5Wz
Others say high temperature, rugged terrain, lack of natural prey and hostile neighbours make Kuno unsuitable for the cats.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates the planet to be home to up to 7,000 cheetahs, which are classed as "vulnerable" on its watch list of threatened species.
“What are we trying to do? We want to use the cheetahs to try and save our grasslands and its denizens including the Great Indian bustard, but the cheetahs cannot even save themselves,” argued Chellum.
He said: “The whole effort is farcical.”
