Original Story Published by: Himanshu Nitnaware, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/
Photo Source: Cheetah Conservation Fund
(Above) Sasha was brought from Namibia on September 17, 2022 and died on March 27, 2023
South Africa may be the only country that would send cheetahs to India in the future for its cheetah reintroduction project. The project flagged off on September 17, 2022 with 20 cheetahs arriving from South Africa and Namibia.
So far, 14 of those cheetahs and a female cub have survived in India’s Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh. The project witnessed a backlash over the deaths of cheetahs due to poor health and criticism of the management team.
Responding to queries from Down To Earth (DTE), SP Yadav, additional director general of forests at the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and head of the project cheetah said, “We are planning to bring 12 to 14 cheetahs from South Africa after careful selection, taking due care of health
parameters and adaptability in the Indian habitat.”
“At this stage, we are planning for translocation from South Africa only and not Namibia,” he added.
Future cheetahs would be carefully selected, said Yadav. Some of the cheetahs did not grow winter coat and thereby saved themselves from infection that caused deaths of some of the wild animals.
Cheetahs Tejas and Suraj died of septicaemia in July 2023. The condition was caused by the wet conditions in the rains and humidity, which caused infection among the animals.
The next batch of cheetahs would likely not have the ability to grow winter coat, said Yadav. The project would also focus on bringing over more fertile female cheetahs for breeding. “Ideally, we would like to see all female cheetahs have a litter,” he said.
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