Fresh batch of cheetahs likely by December, cub survival rate better than global average: Officials

Other countries being looked at by India as a possible source of new batches of cheetahs include Namibia, which has supplied the wild animal earlier too, sources said.

New Delhi: India is in negotiation with some African countries for bringing in fresh batches of cheetahs and is expected to have one group of 8-10 of them, likely from Botswana by this December, sources said on Wednesday.

Officials associated with Project Cheetah asserted that India's ambitious move to reintroduce cheetahs into its wild has been a "big success", and the programme has successfully navigated the initial challenges of the world's first transcontinental transfer of a large carnivore.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the first batch of eight cheetahs from Namibia into Kuno National Park on his birthday in September 2022, their numbers reinforced in February 2023 by 12 cheetahs from South Africa, they have bred multiple times here an evidence, sources said, that they have adapted well to Indian conditions.

The current lot of 27 cheetahs include 16 born in India, the sources said, adding that the overall cub survival rate in Kuno is over 61 per cent against the corresponding global figure of 40 per cent.

It is a big success, an official said, attributing the project's growth, after initial hiccups, to a combination of political will, which was also crucial in negotiating with foreign countries, India's expertise in wildlife conservation, support from local population and overall sense of commitment to the government's flagship programme.

Among translocated cheetahs, 11 have survived, including six females and five males.

As many as 15 cheetahs in Kuno are free-ranging, meaning they no longer live in controlled-conditions and roam free in their natural habitat.

Authorities have identified three more cheetah release sites, Gandhisagar and Nauradeshi wildlife sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh and Banni grasslands in Gujarat, as it aims to continue with a mix of transcontinental relocation of cheetahs and an organic growth in their numbers in India to boost their numbers across a vast territory.

Two cheetahs were released in Gandhisagar in April this year.

"We are looking to bring 10-12 cheetahs every year to populate new sites and to ensure sustainability of their existing numbers," an official said.

Authorities keep cheetahs under monitoring through radio collars and three persons are always at a "radio distance" so that they can reach in quick time to attend to an untoward situation.

The sources, however, rejected the suggestion that infections from radio collars might be behind some of fatalities of the wild animals. Radio collars have been demonised, they said, adding that it has in fact been a source of help in ensuring their best possible monitoring.

Noting that cheetahs brought from Africa, which is in souther hemisphere, faced challenges like completely inverse climatic conditions and confronting different pathogens, leading to several fatalities, officials said the project has now overcome those earlier challenges.

Project Cheetah was launched in July 2022 to reintroduce the species extinct in India into the country's habitat. The project's success will be a boost to the global efforts to conserve the endangered animal.