An official on condition of anonymity says they do not have enough logistical support for upkeep of cheetahs
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh forest department has asked the Centre for an “alternative” site for cheetahs recently introduced into the Kuno National Park, which has seen the death of two felines in less than a month, with officials citing lack of logistical support and space, a report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says.
A senior state forest official on condition of anonymity said they do not have enough logistical support for the upkeep for the cheetahs, brought in two batches of 8 and 12 felines from Namibia and South Africa respectively since September last year.
“We need nine staffers to keep an eye on one cheetah round-the-clock. We don’t have enough hands,” the official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Asked about the space shortage, the official said it was secondary and added that “not just space, we need a lot of logistics.”
Notably, before the cheetahs were imported, some experts had raised doubt over the space shortage likely to affect the cheetah reintroduction project at the Kuno National Park (KNP), which has a core area of 748 sq km and buffer zone of 487 sq km.
On Sunday, the KNP witnessed a second cheetah fatality in less than a month as a six-year-old male feline named Uday, translocated from South Africa in February, died.
The exact cause of the feline’s death is not identified yet, an official earlier said.
The incident is seen as a major setback for the ambitious ‘Project Cheetah’ under which 20 felines were translocated to KNP in Sheopur district from Namibia and South Africa in separate batches in September 2022 and February this year.
One of the eight Namibian cheetahs, Sasha, aged more than four-and-a-half-years, died of a kidney ailment at KNP on March 27.
Another cheetah, named Siyaya, recently gave birth to four cubs in KNP.
Besides, cheetah Oban, now renamed Pavan, has strayed out of the KNP multiple times.
MP Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) JS Chauhan told PTI that his department has written a letter to the National Tiger Conservation (NTCA), overseeing the world’s fastest animal’s reintroduction project in India, requesting for an alternative place for the cheetahs.
“If we start developing our sites like the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary or the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in MP as alternate sites, it will take two years and three years respectively,” an official said.
Months before the cheetahs were brought to India, a risk management plan was drafted stating a “contingency plan” is in the process of being put in place for dealing with serial escapees. Permissions are being obtained for the release of these animals into the Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve (in Rajasthan).
“This protected area has an 80 km fence enclosure, sufficiently stocked with game (place with herbivores population), to hold serial escapees. This enclosure is free of tigers, but does support a low density of leopards, wolves and striped hyenas,” it said.
“It can be considered a guaranteed success site for the establishment of a wild cheetah population and will hopefully provide surplus cheetahs for relocation to other protected areas in India in near future,” it stated.
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