As India’s ambitious Project Cheetah approaches its two-year anniversary on September 17, the country is awaiting final approval from Kenya to bring in a new batch of cheetahs as part of the ongoing efforts to restore the species.
India has finalised its part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and the process now hinges on the Kenyan government’s approval, according to SP Yadav, Director General of the International Big Cat Alliance.
Yadav, who also serves as an advisor to the Centre’s Cheetah Project Steering Committee, revealed during a recent interaction that cheetahs for a new breeding centre in Gujarat’s Bunni grasslands will also be sourced from Kenya.
“The MoU process is in progress. India has finalised its part, and the Kenyan government needs to approve it. After that, both governments will sign the MoU,” Yadav said.
He added that the first-ever intercontinental translocation of cheetahs into India, which began with the introduction of 20 big cats to Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, in 2022, has achieved significant milestones despite facing challenges.
Eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia in September 2022, followed by 12 from South Africa in February 2023.
Since their arrival, eight adult cheetahs—three females and five males—have died.
However, 17 cubs have been born, 12 of which have survived, bringing the total number of cheetahs in Kuno to 24, including the cubs.
Project expansion
The success of the breeding centre in Gujarat's Bunni grasslands is seen as key to expanding Project Cheetah.
The centre, currently under development, will span 500 hectares and can accommodate up to 16 cheetahs.
These animals will also be brought from Kenya, and according to Yadav, “winter is the ideal time to bring them.”
As per the 'Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India,' the country aims to bring in 12 to 14 cheetahs each year from South Africa, Namibia, and other African nations over the course of five years to establish a viable founder stock.
The ongoing discussions with South Africa remain crucial to achieving this target. Yadav mentioned that South Africa has identified 12 to 16 surplus cheetahs, which they must either export or euthanise due to the country’s limited carrying capacity in its sanctuaries.
“They must either give them to another country or euthanise them. That is the current situation,” he explained.
In South Africa, animals in sanctuaries are kept within the limits of their ecosystems’ carrying capacities. If these are exceeded, authorities have no choice but to either export the surplus animals or resort to euthanasia.
Challenges
Despite the project’s successes, it has not been without its difficulties. Reports surfaced last month that Pawan, a Namibian cheetah, died from poisoning.
However, Yadav dismissed these rumours, stating, “There were no signs of poisoning such as saliva oozing from the mouth or liquid seeping from the nose. There was no such thing. It is purely speculation.”
He clarified that post-mortem results indicated that Pawan had drowned, likely due to the heavy rainfall on the night of his death. “There are nallahs (streams) with boulders and rocks. We do not know what happened, but the symptoms suggest that the cheetah died from drowning. There were no other reasons, and no marks were found on the body,” Yadav said.
The post-mortem, conducted by two doctors, confirmed that water was found in the animal’s lungs.
In addition to these fatalities, the cheetahs in Kuno have also faced challenges from the unfamiliar climate. Due to the difference in circadian rhythms between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, some cheetahs developed thick winter coats during India’s summer and monsoon, anticipating the African winter from June to September.
Unfortunately, three cheetahs—a Namibian female and two South African males—died after wounds beneath their thick winter coats became infested with maggots, leading to fatal blood infections.
Conservation and prey management
Yadav stressed the importance of managing the prey base for the cheetahs, particularly in Kuno National Park and the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.
“The number of cheetahs in the wild will depend solely on the prey population. We will not release more cheetahs if the prey population cannot support them. That is within our control,” he said.
To ensure the health of the cheetahs already in the wild, staff at Kuno have been administering prophylactic medicine to prevent infections.
However, Yadav noted that if they fail to do so, they may have no choice but to recapture the animals.
Project Cheetah: A global first initiative
Addressing the perceived secrecy surrounding Project Cheetah, Yadav emphasised that the media attention the initiative has garnered is unprecedented.
“Cheetah introduction has gained unprecedented media attention—more than any other animal conservation effort before. No country, not even developed ones, has dared to undertake an experiment of this kind,” he said, adding that it has been difficult for some in the Western media to believe India could successfully accomplish such a feat.
Yadav pointed out that the process of reintroducing a species takes time. “In South Africa, it took 20 years to establish a viable cheetah population after importing the animals from Namibia.
Similarly, in India, we lost all the tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve in 2005, and it took nearly 15 years to re-establish a stable population there. It takes time; it is not instant coffee,” he concluded.
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