The genesis of the cheetah relocation

When Modi was CM, Gujarat brought two pairs of cheetahs in 2009 from the Singapore zoo, they were accommodated in the Junagadh zoo after a public function presided over by Modi himself

Subterfuge has many faces, both facile and facetious. The Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh waited over twenty years to give an alternate home to the endangered Asiatic lions and found itself hosting the India- extinct cheetahs instead." The long wait is over. The Cheetahs have a home in India," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi referring to the Namibian feline, adding that "the experiment must not be allowed to fail".

The arrival of the eight radio-collared African cheetahs coincided with the 72nd birthday of Narendra Modi, who was personally present to release them into the park. If cheerleaders for the government termed it the return of the prodigal, critics called it the PM's vanity project.

Be that as it may, to put the record straight, this is not the return of the prodigal - the Asiatic cheetah- who roamed the heart of India in large numbers in the days of yore. There are very few specimens of the Asiatic cheetah left, and they exist only in Iran, though, during the 16th century, 10,000 roamed the country, according to Emperor Akbar's chronicled accounts. The experimental release at Kuno by the PM is the African variant.

Explained | Factors that pushed cheetah, the docile cat, to extinction in India

"Cheetahs return to India after 70 years absence," ran international news headlines. This was not entirely true either, for it was during Modi's chief ministership of Gujarat that the state had brought two pairs of cheetahs from the Singapore zoo in exchange for an Asiatic lion and two lionesses. These were accommodated in the Sakkarbaug Zoo, the country's oldest such facility, in Junagadh on March 24, 2009, after a public function presided over by Modi himself." It is part of the state government's efforts to breed them successfully in the country," he had told the media on the sidelines of the event. The pair failed to mate till 2012, and a proposal for assisted reproduction under an expert embryologist could not be implemented because of their age. The two pairs died of natural causes after attaining the age of 12, the last one in 2017. Interestingly in the 1980s, a number of Indian zoos received the African cheetah from abroad, but efforts to breed them in captivity failed.

Published reports aver that the last three Asiatic cheetahs were hunted down in 1948, and four years later(1952), India officially declared the cheetah extinct in the country.

The UN World Wildlife Day official website states that cheetahs have vanished from approximately 90 per cent of their historic range in Africa and are extinct in Asia except for a single isolated population of perhaps 50 individuals in central Iran. Listed as 'vulnerable' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) Red list of Threatened Species and considered critically endangered in North Africa and Asia. Thus the planet's fastest land animal, also considered the least dangerous big cat, now stands reduced to about 7100 in the wild and the Asiatic cheetah to a mere 50. A century ago, there were one lakh cheetahs, points out the World Atlas.

The cheetahs are divided into four sub-species: the Southeast African cheetah, the Northeast African cheetah, the Northwest African cheetah and the rare Asiatic cheetah. African and Asiatic cheetahs diverged about 67,000 years ago, each evolving differently. The Asiatic feline is slightly smaller and slender than the African one, with a smaller and longer neck and legs and lesser weight.

It was the Congress-led UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh that established the project cheetah in 2009 and initiated efforts to revive its population in India by bringing in African Cheetahs. Site surveys conducted by global experts and government officials in the cheetah ranges of yore led to the selection of Kuno-Palpur in Madhya Pradesh. However, matters ground to a halt in 2013 when the Supreme Court hauled the Union ministry of forests and climate change (MOEFCC) over the coals for the plan to introduce the African cheetah into India, noting that Kuno-Palpur was not a historical habitat for this foreign feline and also for not initiating a detailed scientific study before doing so. The apex court quashed the order of the MOEFF, holding that it did not stand up to judicial scrutiny.

Thereafter in 2020, the National Tiger Conservation Authority approached the apex court with a plea for the experimental introduction of cheetahs in India in a carefully chosen habitat. The court relented but appointed an expert committee to decide on the viability of introducing the cheetah. The panel comprised M K Ranjitsinh, former director of wildlife preservation, Dhananjai Mohan, chief conservator of forests (Uttarakhand) and director general (wildlife). The Indian government released a cheetah action plan in 2021, and lo and behold, the first batch of the feline is here, with more to follow soon.

The expert committee's report assessing the potential for reintroducing the cheetah had recommended Shahgarh as its first choice, with Kuno-Palpur only as the second choice. It states, "based on the overall assessment inclusive of prey densities, human pressures and potential for conflict, we rate the surveyed sites in the following order for cheetah re-introduction.

1. Shahgarh: This landscape on the international border in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan was found to be suitable for introducing cheetah. Taking all aspects into account, this is the most appropriate sight, provided the area is enclosed by the proposed fencing, and the livestock is excluded. As the area is fenced along the international border, we propose to additionally fence off the bulge area by constructing another 140 km long chain-link fence to encompass about 4000 sq km of xerophytic habitat. Within this area, about 80 seasonally used human settlements, each having 5-10 households, would need to be relocated with adequate and generous compensation and alternate arrangements provided. Though the prey species diversity was less (primarily chinkara) in Shahgarh, the area could currently support about 15 cheetahs and had the potential to sustain 40 cheetahs with habitat management within the large fenced ecosystem.

2. Kuno-Palpur wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh was the second choice. Being readied for the lions for nearly two decades, the site was therefore found to be ready to receive a large carnivore. "We rate this second only for its smaller size. The buffer area requires inputs of relocation, enforcement and eco-development."

3. Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary has been rated third despite its very high potential as substantial investment and time required to make the 700 sq km inviolate by relocating 21 villages. The report warned re-introduction effort takes time, often with several failed attempts. "We envisage periodic bringing in of cheetahs to stock the sites for the next 15 years. After this time, resources will be needed to manage the established populations and their habitats. Long-term commitment of intent and resources are required for the program to be successful," it noted.

(The author is a senior journalist based in Ahmedabad)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.