Conservationists question how India's imported cheetahs will adapt to new home

As cheetahs transferred to central India from Africa made their first kill, officials hailed the hunt as a sign the animals were adapting to their new home – but some experts say India's hopes of reintroducing the big cats are unrealistic.

Two male cheetahs borns in Namibia and transferred to India have made their first kill at a national park in Madhya Pradesh. © Wildlife Conservation & Rural Development Society

Almost 50 days after they were released in in central Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP), two cheetahs from Namibia made their first kill of a spotted deer early this week.

The two males, Freddy and Elton, were released from quarantine into a large enclosure stocked with natural prey, including spotted deer, nilgai antelope, four-horned antelope, wild boar and Indian gazelle.

“Cheetahs kill every two to three days, we were expecting them to make another kill soon. It indicates that the wild cats are willing to adapt to their new home,” a forest official told RFI.

“We believe the cheetahs would eventually hunt successfully as their natural instincts will now take over.”

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Historic reintroduction

In September, eight adult cheetahs – three males and five females – brought in from Namibia were released in KNP as part of the world’s first intercontinental movement of big cats.

As part of a historic reintroduction of the world’s fastest animal, the cheetahs underwent a quarantine period before being released in the national park.

Asiatic cheetahs were native to India before they were declared extinct in 1952, largely due to habitat loss and hunting for their distinctive spotted pelts.

It is widely believed that the last three recorded cheetahs were killed by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo, the ruler of what was then a princely state in central India.

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Proponents of the project say the cheetahs’ presence will strengthen both conservation efforts and the local economy.

Pradnya Giradkar, the country’s first cheetah conservation specialist, says the process of bringing a species back that has gone locally extinct is a huge challenge.

“Cheetahs are able to survive most of the climatic conditions, adapting well to the Indian environment and Kuno is the perfect habitat for cheetah with enough prey species,” Giradkar told RFI.

'Traumatic' move?

Some experts believe, however, that the reintroduction plan is premature and even expressed doubts whether the cheetahs would survive.

Ravi Chellam, a wildlife biologist and conservation scientist, calls it a "vanity project" and believes it was rushed through to meet goals other than conservation.

“Facts should always speak louder than opinions. This is not even mentioned in India’s National Wildlife Action Plan (2017-2031) and will divert attention from far more important and critical conservation issues such as the great Indian bustard, caracal and Asiatic lion,” Chellam told RFI.

“The conservation goals are unrealistic and unfeasible. Tragically, despite all the investment this will most likely be a very costly mistake.”

Eight adult cheetahs were transferred to India from Namibia in September 2022. © Wildlife Conservation & Rural Development Society

The KNP was originally identified for the relocation of Asiatic lions from Gujarat’s Gir National Park, currently the endangered species' only habitat in India. But despite efforts dating back to 2006, the project has been left on the back burner.

Valmik Thapar, a naturalist and conservationist, goes one step further to argue that the cheetahs should not go through this "traumatic experience".

“We do not have the habitat or prey species for wild, free-roaming cheetahs. Captive cheetahs survive with difficulty and they are being introduced into tiger habitat that has more forest than open grassland.

They prey on mostly on smaller antelope like springbok, steenbok and Thomson's gazelle,” said Thapar.

Vulnerable species

Despite the scepticism, supporters of the project say the cheetahs’ presence will reinforce both conservation efforts and the local economy.

“The project will be sustainable if the action plan is followed to establish three to five populations in India, not just Kuno.

These then need to be managed as a metapopulation by moving cheetahs between populations and southern Africa,” said Yadvendradev Jhala, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India and principal scientist for India’s efforts to reintroduce cheetahs, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Compared to other big cats, cheetahs are smaller in size and have less reported conflict with humans.

Cheetahs are best known for being the fastest land animal, with the ability to sprint at high speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour.

Scientists estimate that fewer than 8,000 African cheetahs are living in the wild and that there may be fewer than 50 Asiatic cheetahs left in the world, all of them in protected areas of Iran.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature classes African cheetahs as a vulnerable species, while their Asiatic cousins are critically endangered.