Safe in Boma, Cubs Yet to Face Jungle Threats
The documentaries showcase playful cheetah cubs in Kuno. The first cheetah cubs were born in Kuno in March 2023 when a Nambian cheetah Siyaya and rechristened as Jwala gave birth to four cubs. But only one female cub survived, while the other three died from starvation, heat, dehydration among other reasons, according to sources .Now18 months old and the eldest among the 12 surviving cubs of Kuno, Jwala’s female cub is named as Mukhi. A South African cheetah named Gamini also gave birth to six cubs in March 2024, a record for a first-time mother. This was the first litter from a cheetah brought from South Africa, and the fourth litter in India. Namibian cheetah Jwala gave birth to four more cubs in January 2024 followed by three cubs from Aasha. Forest department sources attributed the successful births to the stress-free environment created by the forest officers, veterinarians and field staff. Among them 12 survived, a good survival rate in the controlled environs of Boma.
The purring of cheetah cubs is confined within bomas referred to an enclosure less than one square km area. And as the siblings chirp and communicate with their mother, they are growing within the safe environs of bomas , without any fear of leopard, wild dogs, wolf or even a fox.The cubs may be learning the art of hunting from their mothers inside the bomas which are a little one square km fenced forest area stocked with spotted deer. These cubs have yet to learn the art of surviving in the open forest where the jungle law of survival prevails. These cubs have yet to face a leopard, the biggest predator of Kuno in the absence of a tiger.There is a very high density of leopards in Kuno national park. The officials have yet to finalise a plan to release the surviving cheetahs including the cubs in the open jungle. In fact this is the biggest dilemma faced by the officials after cheetahs cross over Kuno and reach the neighbouring villages where they are caught and put back in bomas. Another problem was related to cheetah casualties in the open forest of Kuno. Consequently, all the cheetahs have been inside the enclosures . All other jungles earmarked for cheetah introduction including the Banni grasslands reserve of Gujarat and Gandhi Sagar sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh have fenced facilities to release these cats.
Cheetah Action Plan No Where Near Its Goal
Beginning September 2022, for the next 5 years, Indian plans to bring 50 cheetahs with a goal to establish a viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the animal to perform its functional role as a top predator and provide space for the expansion of the cheetah within its historical range thereby contributing to its global conservation efforts ,use the cheetah as a flagship species to restore open forests and savanna systems, which will benefit biodiversity and ecosystem services- the restoration and conservation of the much-neglected Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs), such as scrub forests, grasslands, and savannahs harbouring several endangered species of fauna and flora.
This would Increase India’s ability to sequester carbon through ecosystem restoration activities, India’s official news agency Press Information Bureau (PIB) reported just before the first African consignment landed Kuno two years ago. Six months later, by the time the winters are over next year in 2025, the project will be completing its 50 % duration but “we don’t seem to be anywhere near any of the goals mentioned in the plan”. Experts are apprehensive but the government has yet to respond to the apprehensions.
Shrouded In Secrecy
One of the authors of the cheetah action plan and former principal scientist on the Cheetah Project (2009–2023), Yadvendradev V Jhala, has been very critical of the project . Jhala in an article in darknlight.com writes, “The first step towards this goal (cheetah introduction) entails restoring intact ecosystems. Breeding of cheetahs within fenced enclosures alone, falls short of this noble goal and is a waste of resources if ecosystems are simultaneously not restored to receive free ranging cheetahs. Former dean of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) , Jhala also wrote a critical piece in Hornbill, a periodical brought out by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) , when he said “ the high- profile conservation projects like Project Cheetah, while benefiting from resource allocations, unfortunately suffer from political and bureaucratic meddling where objectives other than those dictated by science and conservation take .
Another critic of the project and a prominent wildlife biologist and conservation scientist, Ravi Chellam censures the project for its unscientific approach. The Bengaluru based CEO of Metastring Foundation and coordinator of the Biodiversity Collaborative in an article in The Hind commented , “In fact, right from the start this project has been mired in ad hoc and unscientific decision-making. Ecological restoration and conservation objectives have been subordinated by various other considerations”, He said, “ The scientifically weak cheetah action plan was not the best foundation to launch this project. This initial problem has been compounded by failures in decision-making and field implementation.” Experts are also critical of the project as it is shrouded in confidentiality. There is so much secrecy that the documentaries released to mark the two years of the project did not give credit to the people who shot the video. Sources in Delhi claimed, “ we did not want to reveal who all have visited the park to perform the photography and shoot the film”. There was so much secrecy that The Madhya Pradesh forest department earlier this year denied an RTI request for information on cheetah management, citing national security concerns under Section 8(1)(a). It refused to provide information under the Right to Information Act on management of cheetahs brought from Africa and their cubs born in India. In response to a request filed by Bhopal based wildlife activist Ajay Dubey, the department cited Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, which allows a public authority to withhold information if its disclosure would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific, or economic interests of the State, relations with a foreign State, or lead to the incitement of an offence.
By: Deshdeep Saxena
Cover Image and Other Pictures Courtsey Kuno Nationa Park
