Cheetah translocated to India from Namibia gives birth to four cubs: Environment Minister

One of the Namibian cheetahs at Kuno national park on Wednesday gave birth to four cubs in what may turn out to be the first baby step to establish a naturally-occurring cheetah population in India.

Siyaya, a three-year-old captive-reared cheetah gave birth to four litters, and Asha, a four-year-old wild one is likely to follow suit. They were among the eight flown in from Namibia last September and released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday.

Read | Cheetah Shasha dies due to kidney ailment in MP's Kuno National Park

Disclosing the news on twitter, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said bringing back cheetahs was an effort to correct an ecological wrong done in the past.

Experts, however, pointed out that African cheetahs imported from Namibia and South Africa were different from Asiatic cheetahs that went extinct from India seven decades ago.

A third captive-reared cheetah from Namibia, Sasha, had also mated in December but died on Monday after suffering from kidney failure since January.

Three hand-reared cheetahs were brought despite the experts knowing that these animals might not be released in the wild as they were not fearful of humans. But still these animals were imported because they could be used for mating.

"Introducing Cheetahs in India involves establishing a minimum of 3-5 different populations. Further cheetahs to be released into Kuno will be based on how many of the 19 survive," YV Jhala, the Wildlife Institute of India scientist who led the cheetah project until February 28 told DH.

Four of the Namibian cheetahs have been released in the wild so far, while the rest are in a large prey-filled enclosure where they hunt.

Even as experts flag the importance of quickly readying a second site and a breeding centre, the Union Environment Ministry is yet to take a call on a second cheetah site at Mukundara hills where the Rajasthan government offered to host the animals in an 80 sq km fenced forest. A breeding centre, they say, would be essential for the programme to succeed.

“Mukundara can be ready within a month with about half a crore budget while the other two sites Gandhi Sagar and Nauradehi would require Rs 300-450 crore each. No budget has been allocated for the cheetah project - an ecological restoration project that needs resources committed for the long term if the Government is really serious about it,” said an expert who did not want to be identified.