Cheetahs in India's Kuno: An Update

Twenty cheetahs were relocated from South Africa and Namibia to India's 74,200-hectare Kuno national park in Madhya Pradesh in September last year and February. 

 

Since March, six of those cheetahs and three cubs born in the park have died. (The ninth cat died on Wednesday). 

 

To be sure, cheetah experts say that losing half of the founder population in the initial year of relocation in unfenced parks is a common occurrence. There could be more deaths in the second year, they say. 

 

Based on previous reintroduction experiences in Africa, the founder population of 20 cheetahs in India "will further decline" to five or seven cats "before population recovery is initiated", according to a report by South African experts, led by Vincent van der Merwe, a cheetah conservationist involved in the mission. 

 

They also expect the first litters with "realistic prospects of survival to adulthood" will likely be born in 2024 – wild cheetah populations are sustained by a small number of fit and fertile females, also called 'supermums', and experts reckon only one of the seven wild females relocated to India is likely to be one. 

 

Yet, things don't seem to be going well in India. South African and Namibian experts involved with the project have flagged up "serious concerns" about its management. In letters to the Supreme Court of India, which are monitoring the project, they believe the deaths of the cheetahs could have been prevented by "better monitoring of animals and more appropriate and timeous veterinary care". 

 

Also, three cubs died 10 days after leaving their nest. Their deaths were attributed to a heat stroke – they died on a day when temperatures reached 47C. The Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund, which have been involved with the project since its inception, believe "monitoring and information sharing" might have prevented the deaths. 

 

The foreign experts also talk about inadequate record-keeping in the parks. The CCF said they did not "see any daily records of the location, behavior, body conditions and dietary changes of cheetahs at Kuno". They appeared to suggest that the management at the park had "little or no scientific training" and the vets were "too inexperienced to manage a project of this caliber". 

 

Still, they admit cheetah re-introductions are arduous – nine of the first 10 attempts at cheetah introduction in South Africa failed.

 

That aside, India can clearly do much better.