The Project Cheetah authorities have decided to relocate surplus cheetahs from Kuno National Park to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary after the monsoon. At present, Kuno has 26 cheetahs, including 13 cubs and sub-adults.

Key points: 

• Kuno’s cheetah carrying capacity, set at 21 in the Project Action Plan, has been reassessed.

• Over 25 per cent decline in Kuno’s prime cheetah prey, the chital population, since 2022.

• Approximately 2,250 chital lost within a year, with only around 50 chital hunted by seven wild cheetahs.

• Large-scale poaching ruled out due to heavy surveillance. Kuno’s 90-strong leopard population implicated.

• Leopards also disrupting efforts to establish a cheetah prey base in Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary by preying on chital in a 60 sq km enclosure.

Project Cheetah

• World’s first: The world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.

• Association: Part of India’s centrally sponsored ‘Project Tiger’ scheme.

• Funding: Funded by Project Tiger and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management & Planning Authority (CAMPA).

• Extinction: The cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952, making it the only large wild mammalian species to go extinct since India’s independence in 1947.

Reasons for extinction:

i) Large-scale capture for coursing, bounty, and sport hunting.

ii) Extensive habitat conversion.

iii) Decline in prey base.

• Nodal agency: The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is responsible for funding, supervising, and supporting the project.

• Technical support: Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and national/international carnivore/cheetah experts/agencies provide technical and knowledge support.

• Future plan: Introduce at least 50 cheetahs into various national parks over the next five years.

Significance of Cheetah re-location:

• Establish a viable cheetah metapopulation in India.

• Mobilise resources.

• Contribute to global conservation efforts.

• Enhance local community livelihoods.

• Support climate change mitigation goals.

African Cheetah

• Both a flagship species (selected to act as an ambassador, icon or symbol for a defined habitat, issue, campaign or environmental cause) and an umbrella species (its conservation ensures conservation of other species of wild animals and forests).

Characteristics:

• World’s fastest land mammal, capable of running at 80 to 128 km/h.

• Diurnal — they hunt during the day.

• Unlike other big cats (lions, tigers, etc) they don’t roar.

• Gestation period- 93 days.

• Live in three main social groups: females and their cubs, male coalitions, and solitary males.

• Females lead a nomadic life searching for prey in large home ranges, males are more sedentary and instead establish much smaller territories.

• Average female home ranges have been estimated to be about 750 sq km.

• Among large carnivores, conflicts with human interests are lowest for cheetahs, as they are not a threat to humans and usually do not attack large livestock.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)