MoEFCC to release Cheetah into wild by October end, get more from African countries

New Delhi: More cheetahs are to be released from their current enclosure in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh into the wild by the end of October and the government is in talks Kenya and other countries to get more of the big cats.

At least eight adult cheetahs and several cubs have died since the project to reintroduce cheetahs into Indian forests was launched amid fanfare in 2022. The most recent death was of a cheetah named Pawan in August.

The experimental move is aimed at repopulating Indian forests with cheetahs after the extinction of the local sub-species.

“The biggest challenge is to keep them alive. The immunity power is better in new cubs in our atmosphere,” environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) minister Bhupendra Yadav told reporters on Monday.

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India sources cheetahs from Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan and Tanzania, and is now to discussions to get more from Kenya. 

As part of the first-ever intercontinental translocation of the big cats, 20 cheetahs have been airfreighted to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh till last month— eight from Namibia in September 2022 and 12 from South Africa in February 2023.

In Kuno national park, there are now 24 cheetahs, including 12 cubs. The initial casualties have now been managed, officials said. 

Phased release

“On recommendation of the Cheetah project steering committee, we will release Cheetahs to the wild in a phased manner by the end of this month. Other than this, we are negotiating with other countries…We will release a few cheetahs and observe their behaviour and will release the next lot post that. We will move forward based on the recommendations from the committee,” senior officials who attended.

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“There is another wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh —Gandhinagar Wildlife sanctuary which is ready to welcome cheetahs; infrastructure is also ready. Only a few things like prey-based augmentation, conflicts, are being taken care of. As soon as our negotiations with South Africa and Kenya are over, we will accommodate cheetahs there,” the official added.

Similarly, India is also planning to get female African elephants from Botswana and Zimbabwe, another official informed. 

Suspension of WAZA membership

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) earlier this month suspended the membership of Delhi Zoo for six months, citing concerns over the mistreatment of Shankar, a 29-year-old African elephant. 

“The issue was that we have a male African elephant. When testosterone levels of male elephants are high, their aggression level increases. Last year in September when it became aggressive, it almost broke the enclosure wall, and it seemed it would come out. We had to tranquilize it,” the official cited above said.

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“MoS Kirti Vardan Singh has written to all African countries to get female elephant for pairing because we cannot keep a single sex animal in a zoo. Social behaviour of elephants is strong. Botswana and Zimbabwe have agreed,” the official said.

Another official said a census on riverine dolphins has been completed in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India. There are two sub-species in India—the Gangetic riverine dolphin, spread across Ganga and Brahmaputra, and a small population in the Indus river.