As Second Translocated Cheetah Dies, Questions Raised About The Project's Future In Kuno National Park

The post-mortem of Uday, a Cheetah that died in Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, has suggested that the animal died of cardio-pulmonary failure.

The six-year-old Cheetah translocated from South Africa died on Sunday, hours after it was noticed to be unwell.

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Uday was under stress

There are reports that Uday was highly stressed for the last few days.

Just before Uday collapsed in Kuno, he can be seen struggling while walking in a CCTV footage, really sad #Cheetah pic.twitter.com/3bA7vlIOWS

¡ª Anurag Dwary (@Anurag_Dwary) April 24, 2023

An official release on Sunday said KNP officials found cheetah Uday sluggish in his enclosure, and a closer inspection revealed he was staggering.

The cheetah was treated under the monitoring of wildlife vets and kept in the isolation ward, but he died at around 4 PM, KNP authorities said.

Two Cheetahs lost in a month

Uday, one of the twelve Cheetahs that were brought to India from South Africa in February, was the second fatality in KNP in less than a month.

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A female Cheetah translocated from Namibia, Sasha, had died on March 28. The death of Sasha was blamed on a pre-existing kidney ailment, which is not uncommon in captive Cheetahs.

Project Cheetah not going as planned?

The loss of the two critically endangered Cheetahs within a month has raised serious questions about the future of the highly-ambitious and unprecedented reintroduction project.

Madhya Pradesh-based wildlife activist Ajay Dube blamed KNP authorities for the two deaths.

"It was hoped that the arrival of the cheetahs would also deal a huge boost to the local economy while also furthering tourism. However, because of the failure of the Forest Department's wildlife management team, the cheetahs are dying," he said.

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Touring officials causing stress

He claimed that the translocated Cheetahs are under stress due to frequent visits by the kin of KNP officials.

"I believe the cheetah is a very sensitive animal, and somewhere, they are feeling stressed. Perhaps, it's got to do with human interference. I got to know that the officials in Kuno National Park are constantly visiting the Kuno National Park with their families and were sighting the cheetahs. The minimum distance between a cheetah and a visitor is not being followed," he alleged.

In September 2022, just days after the first batch of Cheetahs were brought from Namibia, Dubey had written to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), warning that the life of translocated cheetahs "would be in danger".

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"The kind of activities (that) are happening, I am raising my concern that the life of cheetahs at KNP would be in danger," Dube had said in a letter on September 22.

KNP has no space for 20 Cheetahs

Ever since the KNP was chosen as the location to reintroduce Cheetahs, which officially became extinct in India in 1950, many experts have raised apprehensions over the space and prey shortage there.

KNP has a core area of 748 sq km and a buffer zone of 487 sq km, which many have argued that is too small for a population of twenty Cheetahs.

One of the male Cheetahs, Oban, now renamed Pavan, had strayed out of KNP twice, and the second time, it was about to cross over to a forest in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh when it was tranquilised and brought back.

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Hunt for second home for Cheetahs

MP Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) JS Chauhan told PTI that his department has written a letter to NTCA requesting for an alternate place for the cheetahs.

The letter has sought that the Centre decide on the alternate site, as per forest officials.

"If we start developing our sites like the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary or the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in MP as alternate sites, it will take two years and three years, respectively," an official said.

Months before the cheetahs were brought to India, a risk management plan was drafted stating a "contingency plan" is in the process of being put in place for dealing with serial escapees. Permissions are being obtained to release these animals into the Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve (in Rajasthan).

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"This protected area has an 80 km fence enclosure, sufficiently stocked with game (place with herbivores population), to hold serial escapees. This enclosure is free of tigers but does support a low density of leopards, wolves and striped hyenas," it said.

"It can be considered a guaranteed success site for the establishment of a wild cheetah population and will hopefully provide surplus cheetahs for relocation to other protected areas in India in near future," it stated.

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