Following a letter sent by four South African wildlife veterinarians and cheetah experts to the Supreme Court expressing “serious concerns” over the management of Project Cheetah, two of them have asked that their names to be withdrawn on the grounds that it could impede future exports of the animal from Africa.
On Wednesday, the Environment Ministry confirmed yet another death — the sixth since February — of an adult cheetah. Though the cause of death was not official, it is suspected to be from infection by parasites that lodged into open wounds on the cheetah’s back. There are suggestions that the wounds may have been from the collars chafing against the cheetah’s skin. Following similar deaths among two cheetahs in the past month, all of the remaining cheetahs — most of which were released into the wild—have been brought back into enclosures, their collars removed and are undergoing a physical examination.
On July 15, a letter by Professor Adrian Tordiffe, Veterinary Wildlife Specialist, University of Pretoria, to the Supreme Court expressed “serious concerns” on how Project Cheetah was being managed and “(their) expert opinion was being ignored” by the Project Steering Committee.
The letter, viewed by The Hindu, included among its signatories Vincent van der Merwe, cheetah specialist, Metapopulation Initiative, South Africa; Andy Frazer, and Mike Toft, both wildlife veterinarians. It said that some deaths could have been prevented with better monitoring and more appropriate veterinary care.
They said that despite being listed as ‘international experts’ in the Cheetah Project Steering Committee, they were rarely consulted and provided with information on the health of the cheetahs. They were informed too late that two cheetahs which had died had dermatitis from the persistent wet weather and this triggered a “bacterial invasion” that caused septicemia. More importantly, this posed a risk to the other animals.
Indian officials have so far not acknowledged the role of bacterial infections from dermatitis as a possible cause of death. The letter also mentions that the role of international experts had been minimised following the “forced retirement” of Y.V. Jhala, formerly of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and who played a prominent role in bringing the cheetahs to India from Africa.
However, on July 20, Mr. Merwe said in a letter, viewed by The Hindu, to M.K. Ranjitsinh, who was part of a Supreme Court committee to advise on the translocation of the cheetah, that he was “surprised” to see his and Dr. Frazer’s name and that they “weren’t supportive” of the letter being sent to the Supreme Court.
“The recent losses (of cheetahs) are unfortunate, but we feel this letter will feed into the media frenzy… The negative press is turning out to be the greatest threat to prospects for successful cheetah reintroduction in India… impacting the moral of Kuno staff on the ground …and will also make further genetic and demographic supplementation of cheetahs from Africa difficult.”
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The Hindu reached out to Mr. Merwe, Professor Tordiffe and Mr. Ranjitsinh for comment but did not receive any response till the time of publication.
