Three years on, India’s cheetah reintroduction struggles with poor science, delays, and missed grassland goals. In September 2022, the arrival of eight cheetahs from Namibia to Kuno National Park was hailed as a conservation milestone. Five months later in February 2024, 12 more spotted cats arrived from South Africa. The initiative, branded Project Cheetah, carried lofty ambitions. It aimed not just to restore the world’s fastest land animal to India’s landscapes, but to revive open natural ecosystems (ONEs) — the grasslands, scrublands, and savannahs that are among the country’s most neglected habitats. By reintroducing a top predator, policymakers hoped to spark wider conservation attention, diversify India’s wildlife portfolio beyond tigers and forests, and make ecological amends for a human-caused extinction. The Cheetah Action Plan set out a clear roadmap: import 5–10 cheetahs annually for a decade, create a metapopulation across multiple states, secure and restore grassland hab...
A team of veterinarians conducted a post mortem of Uday, the six year old cheetah who died at Kuno national park on Sunday. The male feline was translocated from South Africa in February this year. Twenty -four hours before his death, the cheetah was hale and hearty. Earlier on March 27, Sasha, one of the eight Namibian cheetahs, died of a kidney ailment at the park on March 27.
Cause of Death Unknown
The latest incident is seen as a major setback for the much hyped and ambitious 'Project Cheetah' for which 20 cats, 8 from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were airlifted in two separate batches in September 2022 and February this year. respectively. After the death of Uday, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Wildlife, J S Chauhan said, "During the inspection in the morning ( on Sunday) , a cheetah (Uday) brought from South Africa was found dull with his head dropped down. He said that the veterinarians attending him alerted senior officials and the feline was taken out from the large enclosure for treatment. Unfortunately, around 4 pm, the cheetah passed away. The exact cause of the feline's death is not identified yet. An official release said the officials found Uday unwell in his boma (enclosure) and a closer inspection revealed he was staggering."During the inspection carried out on Saturday evening, Uday was found healthy.
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But the next morning on Sunday, the medical team found that the cheetah was sluggish. Following a due process, the cheetah was tranquilised on the advice of wildlife veterinarians and treatment was started at 11 AM," the release said. The cheetah was treated under the monitoring of wildlife vets and kept in the isolation ward but he died at around 4 PM, the release said. The exact cause of the death will be known after the post-mortem report. In September last year, eight Namibian cheetahs, comprising five females and three males, were brought to Kuno . They were released in a special enclosure by the prime minister Narendra Modi on September 17.
By Deshdeep Saxena
Representational Images
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