Twelve Cheetahs set to arrive from South Africa to India’s Kuno National Park: Why is it important to protect the big cat?

By: Yash Gupte

The 12 cheetahs will be kept in specially constructed shelters at the Kuno National Park after they arrive in India to complete the necessary quarantine period, where the animals will be closely observed.

Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate change, Shri Bhupender Yadav yesterday aid that twelve cheetahs will be translocated from South Africa to India on Saturday, February 17, 2023. The big cats will be translocated to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Addressing the media on this occasion Bhupender Yadav said that bringing the Cheetah back to India will help in restoring the nation’s natural heritage. The latest batch of 12 cheetahs will be coming from South Africa to Gwalior on Saturday at 10 am by a C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the Indian Air Force. Once they are welcomed in Gwalior, the Cheetahs will be further flown to the Kuno National Park in a Mi-17 helicopter. The IAF aircraft left the Hindon Air base near New Delhi in western Uttar Pradesh Thursday morning for South Africa to bring Cheetahs in India.

During the intercontinental translocation effort, a delegation of Cheetah specialists, veterinarians, and senior officials from both India and South Africa will be with the Cheetahs. The 12 cheetahs will be kept in specially constructed shelters at the Kuno National Park after they arrive in India to complete the necessary quarantine period, where the animals will be closely observed. According to the Action Plan for Cheetah Introduction in India, 10 to 12 cheetahs must be brought annually from African nations for the next five years. For collaboration in the field of cheetah conservation, the Government of India and the Republic of South Africa have been in bilateral talks since 2021. The negotiations were successfully concluded with the signing of MoU with the Republic of South Africa in January 2023. Under the provisions of the MoU, a first batch of 12 cheetahs (7 males, 5 females) will be translocated from South Africa to India on February 18, 2023.

India recently welcomed eight cheetahs in MP’s national park from the African country of Namibia as a part of an intercontinental translocation project under an agreement signed between India and Namibia last year after 12 years of negotiations. In 1952, the cheetah was declared extinct in India. The cheetah is being introduced into India as part of Project Cheetah, the world's first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project. Experts are of the opinion that the Indian climate is suitable for the rapid growth in population of cheetahs over the years.

The Kuno national park in Madhya Pradesh is home to wide variety of flora and fauna. Kuno National Park which is mainly dominated by Kardhai, Salai, Khair trees among the mixed forests, supports a wide variety of both floral and faunal species. It has a rich biodiversity having a total of 123 species of trees, 71 species of shrubs, 32 species of climbers & exotic species, 34 species of bamboos and grasses, 33 species of mammals, 206 species of birds, 14 species of fishes, 33 species of reptiles and 10 species of amphibians. Chousingha or Four-horned antelope, Gaur or Indian Bison, Sloth bear, Striped Hyena and Barking deer or Indian Muntjac are some of the main animals found in the Kuno national park.

The number of cheetahs in the world has been decreasing at an alarming rate. The chart below shows the number of cheetahs over the years.

Cheetahs, one of the oldest big cat species with ancestors dating back to about 8.5 million years, were once widely dispersed throughout Asia and Africa. Until the 20th century, Cheetahs roamed all the way from Israel, the Arabian Peninsula to Iran, Afghanistan and India. In India, they ranged as far south as the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. It is believed that that there were nearly 10,000 Asiatic cheetahs at one point of time. However, over the years, the species reported rapid decline in India. The big cat was a favorite hunting trophy for the kings and was often kept by the princes to hunt gazelle and blackbucks. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the species was heading for extinction in India. The big cat was last spotted in the country in 1952 in eastern Madhya Pradesh.

Worldwide, the cheetah has been driven out of 91 percent of its historic range. As a result of human development, cheetah numbers are estimated to have dropped from 100,000 in 1900 to 7,100 in 2016. Their population is now confined predominantly to six African countries: Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Mozambique. A small population of the big cat resides in Iran.

Cheetahs are listed as “Vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and with the population on continuous decline there is a call from conservationist to up list it to Endangered.”