Kochi: Twelve cheetahs that have been quarantined in South Africa for more than four months waiting to be translocated to India as part of Project Cheetah are possibly losing fitness due to the prolonged period of inactivity, wildlife experts say.
The cause for the prolonged quarantine is the delay in the formal signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and South Africa to move the cheetahs to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP).
According to the news agency PTI, the South African minister of environment, forestry and fisheries, Barbara Creecy, cleared India’s proposal to translocate cheetahs last week. The South African president will now clear the proposal for a formal agreement between the two countries.
A toll on the cheetahs’ health
In July, South Africa identified 12 cheetahs to be translocated to India as part of India’s Project Cheetah, which aims to introduce the African cheetah in India in regions where the Asiatic cheetah used to roam before it became extinct in the 1950s. Eight cheetahs have already been transferred from Namibia for the project.
The South African cheetahs are currently being housed in bomas, or small enclosures, as part of quarantine measures that need to be followed before the translocation. While three of the cheetahs are housed in the Phinda quarantine boma in KwaZulu-Natal province, nine others have been kept in the Rooiberg quarantine boma in Limpopo Province since July 15, wildlife experts told PTI.
However, an MoU between India and South Africa to push forward the inter-continental translocation has still not been inked. This means that the cheetahs have been in quarantine enclosures for four months now, though they needed only a one-month quarantine.
This prolonged quarantine is taking a toll on the animals’ health.
The cheetahs – seven males and five females – have not hunted for themselves even once after being kept in the bomas, said wildlife experts.
“They have lost considerable fitness as they have not hunted even once since July 15,” one expert told PTI. They might have put on weight like humans sitting idle, he said, adding that a running animal has toned up muscles and fitness. Once the animals reach India, they will have to undergo one additional month of quarantine as well, as per Indian regulations.
The fitness of South African cheetahs is a matter of concern given that when they come to India they will have to be watchful of leopards in Kuno, Ajay Dubey, wildlife expert and founder-secretary of Prayatna, an NGO working for tiger conservation, told PTI.
The risk that leopards in Kuno will pose to the cheetahs once the latter are released into the wild is among the many issues that scientists and conservationists have raised about the cheetah introduction exercise that India has undertaken. In the wild in Africa, leopards are known to cause around 9% of cheetah mortality, as per studies.
A leopard and cheetah staring at each other at a park in Botswana in Southern Africa. Photo: Photo: Jamie Hopf via PTI
Ministry cleared proposal
Experts told PTI that Creecy cleared India’s proposal to translocate the cheetahs last week. The formal agreement between India and South Africa will materialise when South African president Cyril Ramaphosa clears the proposal.
As per the report, another expert said that a South African delegation visited Kuno in early September to see the arrangements at the wildlife sanctuary in place to house the cheetahs. The delegation was satisfied with the arrangements, and “everything is positive about the project”, but the MoU has not been inked yet, the expert said.
“I think the MoU between New Delhi and Pretoria will be signed this month,” the expert said.
Madhya Pradesh’s principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) J.S. Chauhan told PTI that they are ready to receive the cheetahs from South Africa.
“I think that the MoU will be signed shortly,” added the forest officer.
According to the Times of India, its sources claimed that the MoU was delayed due to “warnings and negative reports” by “a lobby of self-styled conservationists in both countries”.
Meanwhile, The Print reported on December 5 that the South African Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has “approved” the MoU with India and it is awaiting the signature of the South African president.
Kuno, where the South African cheetahs will be taken to once they reach India, is already home to eight African cheetahs from Namibia, which were released into their enclosures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17 this year.