Six-month wait for public to see the wild cats: Project Cheetah Head

In a Q&A, S P Yadav says there have been concerns about the reintroduction project in terms of the ecological adaptation of the felines and co-habitation with other species

The reintroduction of Cheetahs in India has generated immense public interest with the biggest question being when people can visit Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, which is housing these felines. But at the same time, there have been concerns about the reintroduction project regarding ecological adaptation and co-habitation with other species. S P Yadav, head, Project Cheetah, spoke with Nitin Kumar and addressed the concerns, the tasks and ambitions under the project to reintroduce 50 Cheetahs in five years and the challenges ahead. Edited excerpts:

Several wildlife biologists opine that Project Cheetah is unfeasible, given India’s lack of vast uninterrupted landscapes, which are conducive for big cats such as the Cheetah. Your comment?

The last cheetah was killed in the Korea district, where there is grassland and uneven landscape. These experts have never worked with cheetahs because there were no cheetahs in India. We have followed the advice of the world’s best cheetah conservationists.

If people say that they need large tracts of land, then (my question is) how did cheetahs exist in the Sal Forest of Surguja district and Korea districts? Cheetahs are very adaptive animals. If they can survive in cold deserts, montane forests, tropical deciduous forests, and coastal shrubs, why not here? Their assumption has come from watching TV shows.

Experts have also flagged the risk of conflict between cheetahs and tigers/leopards, which are also habitants of the Kuno. How do you see this?

We conducted a survey and found no tigers. Leopard density is high but the prey density is also exceptionally high, with 24-30 spotted deer per square kilometre. This is higher than many other reserves.

Experts from South Africa and Namibia visited India and categorically selected Kuno for the relocation. In fact, according to their analysis, the Kuno site is better than the Namibian. There are leopards and lions in Namibia, South Africa, and other countries, with whom cheetahs have coexisted for ages.

Are eight cheetahs enough to create a gene pool? Will their cubs be able to survive as their fatality rate is over 80 per cent in Namibia?

Reintroduction is a long process and our target is to create a viable metapopulation, which would be around 40-45 cheetahs in Kuno. We are planning to bring 12 from South Africa soon and the number will reach 20 then.

Given the prey density in 748 square km, Kuno can accommodate 20-25 Cheetahs today. But if we manage to use the 6,000 square km landscape, we can achieve our target of a viable metapopulation.

According to the Project Cheetah action plan, 50 felines are to be reintroduced in five years. How many will be brought from other countries?

If the breeding is good, they adapt to the environment, and their mortality rate is lower than anticipated, then we may require less supplementation. But we can supplement it to achieve our target of having 50 cheetahs in five years. The eight cheetahs that we currently have are in quarantine right now. The process to get 12 more from South Africa will start soon.

When would the public be allowed to see cheetahs at Kuno?

Our focus is cheetah conservation. Tourism is just a by-product, so when we are confident that they have adapted, only then will visitors be allowed. It will take at least six months.

Asiatic lions were also being shifted to Kuno from Gir National Park, Gujarat but the plan was dropped. Why?

During the past 10 years, the lion population has increased from 300 to about 700. Despite some diseases and other challenges, the population is doing well in Gujarat because of natural dispersal. We wanted to shift lions to Kuno because the biologists suggested the need to create geographical isolation to buffer the population in case any endemic occurs.

The translocation was meant for this geographical balance, which is occurring naturally. They are moving across Saurashtra. Therefore, there is no urgency for artificial relocation. We will do it when the need arises.