In a significant milestone for India’s cheetah reintroduction program, a government report has disclosed that four out of the six predefined criteria for short-term success have been successfully achieved. The report underscores that the project is firmly on course to evolve into a triumphant endeavor for the conservation of large carnivores. While the program undoubtedly faces substantial challenges, collaborative endeavors from officials and administrators hailing from India, Namibia, and South Africa are propelling the project toward a path of recovery.
The Cheetah Action Plan, unveiled the previous year, delineated six short-term success benchmarks, including achieving a 50 percent survival rate for introduced cheetahs during their initial year, establishing home ranges within Kuno National Park, fostering successful cheetah reproduction in the wild, ensuring the survival of wild-born cheetah cubs beyond their first year, attaining successful F1 generation breeding, and leveraging cheetah-based revenues to enhance community livelihoods.
Notably, the report highlights that four of these benchmarks have already been met. These include the accomplishment of a 50 percent survival rate among introduced cheetahs, the establishment of home ranges, the birth of cubs within Kuno National Park, and the direct financial contributions to local communities facilitated through the engagement of cheetah trackers, coupled with the indirect appreciation of land values in the surrounding regions.
India’s ambitious endeavor to reintroduce cheetahs, following their extinction in the nation, celebrated its first anniversary on Sunday. The project was inaugurated on September 17th last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a cohort of cheetahs from Namibia into an enclosure located within Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.
Since its inception, conservationists and experts from across the globe have closely monitored the project. A total of twenty cheetahs were imported from Namibia and South Africa in two separate shipments, one in September last year and another in February.
It is worth noting that, since March, six of these adult cheetahs have regrettably succumbed to various factors. In May, three of the four cubs born to a female Namibian cheetah met their untimely demise due to extreme heat. The sole surviving cub is presently under human care, with plans for eventual reintroduction into the wild.
The report underscores that all reintroduced cheetahs have exhibited natural behavior without any aberrations. Regrettably, some mortalities did occur due to factors such as bacterial infections, maggot infestations, renal failure, injuries, and heat-related complications.
However, it is notable that no unnatural deaths have transpired in free-ranging conditions, despite some cheetahs venturing across vast distances in regions inhabited by humans. Such post-release mortalities, while unfortunate, are not uncommon in projects of this magnitude, especially within the African context.
By PTI