Explained | Is India's Project Cheetah going awry? What's causing deaths of big cats?

The nation was beaming with pride when the first batch of cheetahs landed in India after travelling in an Air Force's C-17 Globemaster aircraft. The cheetahs were translocated to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

Eight cheetahs were brought in from Namibia, after which another 12 arrived from South Africa in February. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the release of the first arrivals at the national park.

The government aimed to reintroduce cheetahs, under the 'Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India', with plans to make the nation a home once again to the majestic presence of cheetahs, which are the world's fastest land animal.

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But the projectreceived a setback with a series of deaths of cheetahs. A total of eight felines have died so far, and in the aftermath of a recent death, a top Indian wildlife official was removed as concerns were raised about this high-profile and popular project.

Eight cheetahs have died in the last four months, with wildlife authorities attributing the deaths to natural causes.

Media reports mentioned that the top wildlife official in Madhya Pradesh, Jasbir Singh Chauhan, was transferred by the state forest department on Monday.

The authorities didn't reveal any reason, but media reports have linked the transfer to the cheetah deaths, citing sources saying that there were concerns over the project's management.

Five of the eight cheetahs that diedwere translocated animals, besidesthree of the four cubs that were born after their arrival.

The environment ministry stated on Sunday that declaring the programme a success or failure would be premature "because cheetah reintroduction was a long-term project."

It further said that global experience, particularly from South Africa, demonstrated that the first phases of reintroductions resulted in more than 50 per cent mortality.

However, while speaking to the news agency AFP on Tuesday, wildlife conservationist Praveen Bhargav said that the cheetah reintroduction programme was bound to fail as many fundamental issues had been ignored.

Bhargav said, "I believe the prime minister has unfortunately been misled by some bureaucrats and experts."

"We neither have the expansive grassland habitats that cheetahs need nor other ecological conditions to attempt such a complicated reintroduction," he said.

"This was a very good, headline-grabbing event but the harsh reality kicks in, as we are now witnessing after eight cheetahs have died," he added.

Why did the cheetahs die?

Local media reports quoted experts as claiming that the deaths were because of the sub-standard radio collar. An allegation, refuted by the government as it says that all of the claims have been "speculation and hearsay without scientific evidence".

Citing a video seen by it, NDTV reported that the officials examined the radio collar and a maggot-infested wound on the neck of a cheetah named Suraj. As per reports, it died last week.

As quoted by the report, R Sreenivasa Murthy, an IFS who led the operation to revive the tiger population, said, "It can cause infection. We had faced such a situation in Panna, but we had 24/7 monitoring. If it is a synthetic collar, it should be replaced immediately."

"It is a polymer, initially it remains soft but with time when it is polymerised then it becomes hard. If it is made of leather, it absorbs water its elasticity increases, and the animal does not suffer much from it," he added.

Extinction of cheetahs in India

In India, the last cheetahs were recorded in 1947 when three were shot in the Sal (Shorea robusta) forests of Koriya District, Chhattisgarh state.

The main causes of cheetah extinction in India were large-scale capture of animals from the wild for coursing, bounty, and sport hunting, substantial habitat modification, and a concomitant fall in prey base. Cheetahs were declared extinct in 1952. Now, the government is trying to reintroduce African cousins of the Asiatic cheetahs.

What are India's objectives with this project?

The goal of the cheetah introduction project in India is to establish a viable cheetah metapopulation in the country that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator and allows the cheetah to expand within its historic range, thus contributing to global conservation efforts.

As mentioned on a government website, India aims to establish breeding cheetah populationin safe habitats across its historic range and manage them as a metapopulation.

Secondly, the nation's goals employ the cheetah as a flagship and umbrella species to raise funds for restoring open forest and savanna systems, which will boost biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The government also wishes to ensure opportunities for eco-development and eco-tourism to enhance local community livelihoods.

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