Do we deserve the Cheetah?

Last week, one more cheetah died at Kuno National Park, taking the toll to nine -- six adults and three cubs. The rate at which these big cats are dying casts a doubt on the research that went into the translocation programme and on the clarity into its goals and pathways. The argument that this mortality rate was expected does not hold. Now, the project has begun to appear like the Indian leadership’s vanity in wanting to show the world that its conservation spurs.

As part of India’s Rs 90-crore Cheetah reintroduction project, 20 individuals were introduced to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The first batch of eight from Namibia were released on September 17, 2022, to coincide with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday. A second batch of 12 individuals were introduced there in February 2023. It is being termed as a first-of-its-kind conservation project for cheetahs, as well as for the grasslands which make up their natural habitat.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is listed as 'vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species of 2021. There are only 6,517 mature individuals left in the world. The cheetah is native to countries such as  Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Iran, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In Asia, cheetahs are now confined to Iran, and comprise the subspecies A. j. venaticus, commonly known as the Asiatic cheetah.

Discussions to bring the cheetah back to India were started in 2009 by the Wildlife Trust of India. Experts from across the world and government officials conducted site surveys to explore the potential for reintroduction. The former cheetah range states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh were prioritised. Among the 10 surveyed sites of the Central Indian states, Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh was rated the best because of its suitable habitat and adequate prey base.

As per the government note, KNP is spread over 748 sq km, is devoid of human settlements, forms part of the Sheopur-Shivpuri deciduous open forest landscape, and is estimated to have a capacity to sustain 21 cheetahs. Kuno is probably the only wildlife site in the country where there has been a complete relocation of villages from inside the park. It also offers the prospect of housing the four big cats -- tiger, lion, leopard and cheetah.

The Supreme Court contradicted these arguments in 2013. In an ongoing matter related to the relocation of Asiatic lions from Gujarat’s Gir forests to KNP, the court came down heavily on the plan of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to introduce the African cheetah from Namibia into India. It noted that Kuno was not a historical habitat for African cheetahs, and that a detailed scientific study was not done before proposing to introduce this foreign species to India.

In January 2020, the National Tiger Conservation Authority approached the court again for the reintroduction of cheetahs into India. It was submitted that the African cheetahs would be introduced on an experimental basis in a carefully chosen habitat. The SC finally agreed the same year, while appointing an expert committee to decide on the viability of introducing the African cheetah on a larger scale.

The government released a cheetah action plan in 2021. A cheetah habitat covering over 3,200 sq km (up from the current 740 sq km) in the Kuno landscape is planned, with restorative measures and scientific management, providing a prey base for up to 36 cheetahs. Another major objective of this project is to use the cheetah as a "charismatic flagship and umbrella species" to garner resources for restoring open forest and savannah systems that will benefit biodiversity. Various awareness programmes on cheetah conservation for schoolchildren and the public are also undertaken by the government.

Notwithstanding these preparations and the crores spent, there remains a lot of ambiguity and doubt about the actual conservation prospect behind this cheetah introduction programme. Seven of them died within just two months of their introduction, and two more now. We do not have the habitat or the prey base for wild, free-roaming cheetahs. When the government does not have the money or the manpower to look after our own indigenous species, such as the Great Indian Bustards, which are extremely threatened, the cheetah project seems grandiose.

That’s especially true in the context of what’s being done to our forests: India clocked the second highest rate of deforestation in the world in the last 30 years. We lost 6,68,400 hectares between just 2015 and 2020. Since 1950, India has diverted about 5.7 million hectares of forest area for non-forest purposes. The Forest Conservation Act, the Biological Diversity Act and several other laws meant to protect and preserve over forests and natural wealth have been diluted – most recently through amendments passed without debate during the just-ended parliament session -- paving the way for desertification. Scientists and conservationists, nor even the opposition parties, are taken into confidence when such critical bills are passed.

The cheetah is one of the widest-ranging of big cats. The average area required for a single cheetah is 100 sq km. It is known to travel across areas in excess of 1,000 sq km in a year. But over several decades, India has lost about 90-95% of its grasslands (31% in just the decade from 2005-15). So, where will the cheetah roam?

That the cheetahs were introduced to much fanfare on the birthday of Prime Minister Modi, ignoring the reality of shrinking forest and grassland acreage, gives rise to scepticism over the intent and prospect of the project. On one hand, the country lacks political will to protect and preserve our rich heritage of habitat and vegetation diversity. On the other hand, we want to pretend and boast about our conservation efforts. Undertaking a cosmetic cheetah conservation project has only added to our confusion over the core objective of protecting wildlife and ecosystems. It is sad and disastrous to torture and kill flagship species to advertise conservation heroism.

(The writer is a Professor of Zoology, and director of ‘Forest watch’, a collective for conservation and outreach based in Wayanad)