Experts from South Africa and Namibia, all members of the national cheetah project steering committee, have written to the Supreme Court, signalling their “serious concerns” about the way the project is being handled in India.
Under the cheetah project, 20 felines were translocated to India beginning last September. The first set of eight cheetahs from Namibia were released into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17 last year and another 12 cheetahs landed from South Africa this February. Since the first two cheetahs were released in the wild on March 11, six adults and three cubs have died in Kuno.
Also Read: Project Cheetah in danger? Kuno National Park sees another cheetah’s death, 9th since March
The ninth cheetah, a female, died at Kuno National Park on Tuesday, stirring up a debate about the conditions in which the wild cats have been rehabilitated to India, how they were being kept and if the continuous deaths could have been prevented.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the letter dated July 15 was signed by South African veterinary wildlife specialist Dr Adrian Tordiffe on behalf of his colleagues – Cheetah specialist Vincent van der Merwe, and wildlife veterinarians Dr Andy Fraser and Dr Mike Toft. The experts flagged to the Supreme Court that the current management of the project had “little or no scientific training” and waas ignoring their opinions. They wrote that they had become “mere window dressing” for the much-vaunted project.
The experts also alleged that some of the cheetah deaths could’ve been prevented by “better monitoring” and timely veterinary care.
Also Read: Another cheetah dies at MP’s Kuno National Park, 8th in five months
However, van der Merwe and Fraser are said to have disassociated themselves from the letter. Another letter was issued by Dr Laurie Marker, executive director of Namibia’s Cheetah Conservation Fund, highlighting similar issues. She said that they could help more with the cheetah rehabilitation if they were listened to.
“Very little information has been forthcoming from Kuno regarding the cheetahs and their care. Although we are listed on the Cheetah Project Steering Committee as international experts, we have never been consulted by them or invited to any of their meetings,” Tordiffe’s letter said.
To illustrate how this had consequences, the experts detailed how the Kuno field team wrongly assumed that the male cheetah, spotted at around 11 am on July 11 with wounds on the back of his neck, was injured by a female cheetah which was an “extremely unlikely” scenario.
Also Read: Cheetah Sasha dies in MP’s Kuno park; big cat had kidney ailment before translocation
“The staff at Kuno left the injured male, deciding rather to locate the female to check if she was also injured. During that time the condition of the male deteriorated, and he died at around 2 pm without having received any treatment,” the letter said.
The experts claimed they heard from Kuno only the next morning when a summary and some photos of the post mortem were shared.
Had they been shown pictures or had a description of the “wounds,” they would have alerted authorities to act to minimise the risk to the other animals. “Instead, we were largely excluded from the process and had to beg for information to understand what had taken place,” they wrote.
Also Read: Two more cheetah cubs die at Kuno Park in MP
Cheetahs at Kuno National Park
Kuno suffered the first cheetah casualty on March 27 when a Namibian import, Sasha, died of kidney ailment. Then, South African male Uday died on April 24 of unknown causes.
On May 9, a female cheetah from South Africa, Daksha, died following a “violent interaction” with two male cheetahs during attempted mating. Three cubs born to Namibian female Jwala died of dehydration and weakness later in the month.