Multiple cheetah deaths in Kuno raise questions about habitat limits, prey scarcity, and management. A data-driven look at the challenges facing India’s cheetah project T wo back-to-back cheetah deaths—one from a suspected collision inside the forest and another caused by a speeding vehicle—have once again pushed the spotlight onto the ambitious yet troubled cheetah introduction project in Kuno National Park . While officials have issued preliminary statements, the absence of publicly released post-mortem and investigation reports related to the past such cases has deepened concerns about transparency at a time when clarity is essential. The recent incidents highlight the ecological and management challenges that continue to shape the project’s uncertain trajectory. Each Loss Is Significant Setback On December 5, Friday, one of Veera’s cubs recently released into the open forest, died after reportedly separating from its mother. Just two days later, on December 7, another young cheetah...
Following the history of Ranthambhore National park (RNP) , four more tigers have gone missing. These tigers have not been sighted for the past over 9 months. One of them- a tigress- is missing with her two cubs making the total number of missing cats 6. The park authorities have sought the help of the Kuno Palpur National Park (KPNP) in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh to help track them. The tigers which vanished from the Ranthambhore include T64, T95, T97 and the tigress T73.Two cubs of this tigress have also not been sighted. The RNP tigers often move out to the MP jungles situated on the banks of river Chambal.
Mystery Shrouds the Vanishing Act
Since 2009, the park has “mysteriously” lost
30
tigers, including seven old and 23 young ones. Of these 23, the number of missing
tigresses was 11.And if we include the latest case of four more, the
number becomes 34. Most of the
time, the park authorities term it “a natural migration”. It is also believed
by Rajasthan forest department that tigers may be moving out to create new
territories because of their population in the park. Referring to the 11
,missing tigresses , experts carry forward this theory of the forest department
and said
the female cats are not known to
move out for creating a territory.
When the four big cats and two cubs were not seen for long, the Ranthambhore authorities sought the help of Kuno in November last year to trace T64, T95, T97 and the tigress T73 which they said had not been sighted for the “ past six months” It means the tigers have now been missing for the past nine months or so. The RNP authorities have requested the authorities in Kuno to look for these tigers in their camera traps. Sources said that all the three tigers are sub- adults.
The Enigmatic T38
Also Read: Lonely Tiger Returns Home After One Decade
To cross check , Ranthambhore officials matched the latest pictures of T38 with the images of Kuno-Palpur trap camera’s and the return journey of elderly tiger was finally established. This, in fact, was the same period when the park authorities had started looking for the six missing tigers including the two cubs when they wrote a letter to Kuno authorities during the same period. It was suspected that the presence of some young tiger in Kuno might have led to the migration of T38.But so far no other tiger or any sign of its presence has been found in Kuno.
The Black Holes of Ranthambhore
The total area of RTR is around 1334 square kilometers which includes Kaila Devi and Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary also. Area of critical tiger habitat falling under Karauli district remains a “problematic region” with dwindling forest cover, low level of prey base and increasing anthropogenic pressure due to which tiger does not feel safe, experts believe. A tiger named Mohan or T 47 living in Kunder range and another big cat called Fateh or T 42 from Phalodi range were not sighted since January 2020, media reports in July last year said. “They are full grown tigers and may have moved out in the natural process”, the Ranthambhore authorities believed. Fateh , a very aggressive male, was very popular among tourists and was known for charging the vehicles. In one instance, this tiger had chased a vehicle carrying foreign tourists for almost 2 kms.
Eyebrows were raised by the officials of the Union ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change over the “ delay” in efforts to track the missing Mohan then. “Sending a report that T-47 is missing after four months is a face-saving exercise”, they had said. “The field staff should be deployed to carry out patrolling to check the tiger movement in the park”, they advised.
Also Read: FreshTiger Crisis in MP Midst Favourable Poaching Conditions
This celebrated national park of Rajasthan, very famous among the wildlife tourists and wildlife photographers, had seen a major crisis in 2006 when only 18 tigers were left in the wilderness. After some wonderful conservation efforts, improved monitoring, better protection works and the involvement of local communities in the conservation process, the tiger numbers have grown from 18 to around 65 now in 2020. And all this had happened amidst the “vanishing act of tigers”, experts said. Interestingly, since 2006, only 2 tigers which include the world famous Machhali or T-16 and Big Daddy aka T-2 could attain full age and the forest department recovered their carcasses. Tiger experts said that one of the reasons for the long life of these two big cats may be the attention given to them and they were getting supplementary food during the fag end of their life.
Experts claimed that there are two areas amounting to 60% of the total tigers that have gone missing from the park. Both these areas are natural habitats of the reserve but are close to 13 villages.
(All are representational pictures)
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