Two years of Project Cheetah: Triumphs, trials and the road ahead in third year
New Delhi: Several promising births, fewer but painful losses, growing optimism and some criticism marked the second year of the internationally acclaimed Project Cheetah, which looks ahead with renewed hope and ambition amid many challenges.
As the grand initiative completes two years on Tuesday, authorities are speeding up efforts to bring in a new batch of cheetahs from Africa to the Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary, which will be their second home in India, and setting up a conservation breeding centre in the Bunni grasslands in Gujarat.
They also aim to establish a larger cheetah habitat, spanning the territorial divisions of Neemuch (about 1,000 sq km) and Mandsaur (500 sq km) in Madhya Pradesh, along with the Bhainsrorgarh Wildlife Sanctuary (208 sq km) and Chittorgarh (around 1,000 sq km) in Rajasthan.
In a major boost to the project, 13 cubs were born on Indian soil in the second year, though two of them did not survive.
Namibian cheetah Aasha gave birth to three cubs in January. Another female from Namibia, Jwala, also had three cubs that month. Jwala had delivered four cubs last year, but only one survived. South African cheetah Gamini had six cubs in March, bringing the total number of cubs to 13 this year.
Two adult cheetahs, Namibian males Shaurya and Pawan, died this year. Pawan was the only cheetah roaming freely in Kuno National Park. Shaurya died of septicemia in January, and Pawan died in August due to “drowning”. Experts say cheetahs generally do not drown.
While authorities have been busy preparing the 368 sq km Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary for the next batch of cheetahs, the ones in Kuno remain inside enclosures that are only 0.5 to 1.5 sq km in size.
For context, cheetahs need much larger areas in the wild, usually over 50 square kilometers, depending on prey availability.
“The cheetahs are not truly living in the wild, despite spending two years on Indian soil. Cheetahs prefer long journeys, and they could be under severe stress,” an African expert who assisted with the cheetah reintroduction in India said.
Ravi Chellam, CEO of Metastring Foundation and Coordinator, Biodiversity Collaborative, said that according to global experience and Namibian laws and policies, it is not a good idea to release these cheetahs because of their extremely long period of captivity, especially the captive-born cubs.
Last month, the Cheetah Project Steering Committee decided to release the African cheetahs and their cubs, born in India, into the wild gradually after the monsoon ends in central India, which usually happens by the first week of October.
Cheetahs were initially released into the wild but were brought back to their enclosures in July-August last year after the deaths of three cheetahs -- a female named Tbilisi (from Namibia) and two South African males, Tejas and Sooraj -- due to septicemia, an infection that occurs when bacteria enter the bloodstream
and spread.
