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...
When Walker wandered over 3000 kms last year, the three year old tiger seemed to have given a wake up call to the government and its officials busy in achieving a bizarre target, the target of doubling the tiger population. Termed as TX2, it is a global goal to make the tiger population two- folds by 2022. In 2010, all the 13 tiger range countries joined hands in St Petersburg and set the target. India, with the largest tiger population in the world, is busy in achieving the objective. Too obsessed with their tiger number, they seemed to have forgotten the forests and preservation of the corridors. The wake-up call from Walker underlines the significance of forest corridors.
The Epic Walk
In March, 2020 this radio-collared tiger in India grabbed
global attention by taking a roundabout route of forests starting from
Tipeshwer wildlife sanctuary in Yavatmal district in Maharashtra in June 2019.
From here, the tiger went to Telangana before re-entering Maharashtra again and
finally settling down in Dhyanganga sanctuary in Buldhana. And while doing so,
the big cat had travelled 3,020 kilometres across Maharashtra and Telangana in
13 months, as per the records of the GPS data
generated by the tiger’s collar. From TWLS T1C1, or Tipeshwar Wildlife
Sanctuary cub C1 born to tigress T1, the tiger became Walker. Distance between
the two Maharashtra districts ( Yavatmal and Buldhana) is about 244 kms. But
Walker had to travel 3020 kms to reach Dhyanganga, the small jungle in
Vidharbha region of Maharashtra known as the island jungle because it has no
forest connectivity. Ever since Walker made this jungle his home, he is all
alone. Though the forest department in Maharashtra is mulling over
translocation of a mate for C1, they have not been able execute this idea.
“Dnyanganga is like an island. Unless it has some connectivity to other tiger-bearing areas like Melghat in Amravati district and Muktai Bhavani in Jalgaon district, it makes little sense to facilitate the growth of Walker’s progeny in Dnyanganga”, officials said. “Where do they go and how do we ensure their genetic plurality?” is their concern. This has also highlighted the importance of the forest corridors and the connectivity of one forest to another to give safe passage to the wild animals.
Dnyanganga, officials reiterates,that it needs to be developed into a regular tiger-sustaining area by developing corridors to connect with other such locations. “We need to first facilitate connectivity before letting Walker’s tribe grow,” the forest department officials of Maharashtra have said.
Also read: Protect This Wildlife Corridor To Save The Ganges
Born in late 2016, the sub-adult male C1 was a part of a project of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, to study the dispersal of tigers across the eastern Vidarbha landscape. The WII team which tracked the tiger throughout his journey said Walker strayed into Adilabad division in Telangana and spent considerable time across inter-state forests of Adilabad and Nanded divisions during August and September 2019 . It criss-crossed several forest divisions and districts crossing human-dominated landscapes, agricultural fields, canals, villages and highways before heading towards Dhyanganga sanctuary.
Over the months, 6,240 GPS locations were picked up and the animal was found to have normal predation patterns and achieved all the skills to survive and avoid humans, according to a report by the team of scientists and researchers at WII, comprising Bilal Habib, Parag Nigam and Zehidul Hussain. Citing this as the longest journey ever taken by a collared tiger in the country, the team submitted its report to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden of Maharashtra.
Walker Waits for an Answer
WII scientists said that
“ translocating a tigress is an
easy task and can be carried out any time. But where would the cubs go after
mating. But experts warn that “the
challenge is much bigger than that”. The space within Dhyanganga would not be
sufficient to accommodate the family of tigers.
Also read: Lonely Tiger Returns Home After One Decade
Officials point to two forest stretches that can provide a larger area for a tiger population to move about: the 74-sq km Katepurna Sanctuary in Akola and the 18-sq km Karanja Sohol Sanctuary in Washim. But these proposals are full of “ifs and buts”.
For long-term conservation, we need to ensure proper channels for tigers to move in and out of Dhyanganga. It is a big challenge, officials in Maharashtra said.
Back in Buldana, , there were demands to preserve Dnyanganga as a tiger area to facilitate tourism. A Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav had even suggested a 10-km elevated corridor between two villages to replace the 50-km Khamgaon-Buldana road cutting through the sanctuary. There are also plans to relocate the only village inside the sanctuary.
Walker’s walk has raised many big questions. The most important: Is TX2 possible without proper preservation of India’s forests and the corridors connecting them. Walker awaits an answer.
Representational pictures
What place for tigers in 25 years time, when the human population of India will have doubled? In my life I have seen the world population multiplied by 3, and the animal population of the planet decimated. A "free-market" economy is not sustainable, since it is not based on long-term conciderations, and only concernes human interests.
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