African cheetahs that have been released into a small area of forest in Madhya Pradesh under Project Cheetah are seen as a spectacular conservation story by the Union government, but the fast-moving cats are encountering the very problems that experts had predicted three years ago. The recent incident of conflict between the cheetahs and villagers living near Kuno National Park and an earlier contested attack on a child in Umarikala village in March highlights the impact of significant human and livestock presence on wild animals. In the first incident in Virpur tehsil, captured on video by villagers, the cheetahs apparently strayed out of the protected area and tried to hunt domestic animals, provoking people to throw stones to scare them away. Such confrontations involving large wild animals have become commonplace in several forests in other states, notably Kerala, and it is ironic that a marquee programme involving animals imported with fanfare from Namibia and South Africa has created a new theatre of conflict in Madhya Pradesh. Scientists are not surprised that a carnivore like the cheetah and the local population are falling out, given the growing demand for space among humans on the one hand and the need for expanded ranges to support more numbers of protected species on the other. The scientific evidence points to a much larger habitat range necessary for the cheetah compared to the tiger, along with abundant small prey and an absence of pressure from humans, livestock and domestic dogs. One estimate says ten tigers can survive in about 100 sq km, which, however, can host only one cheetah. It is also important to remember that natural mortality among cheetah cubs is high, and this reality has been driven home even in the introduced population. Viewed scientifically, the scope for large cheetah populations thriving in the small ranges earmarked in central Indian forests remains low.
India’s cheetah reintroduction programme, which was justified both as a conservation model and as eco-tourism innovation, has hit regulatory barriers too in recent weeks. South Africa has paused the transfer of 18 cheetahs under the programme in the absence of progress reports required to be submitted every three months, as per the bilateral agreement. Questions have also arisen whether the certification requirements under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) were met for the imported cats scheduled to be released in Kuno and Gandhi Sagar. These issues require honest answers from Project Cheetah if it is to sustain itself as a conservation experiment. The imperative is to strengthen the prey base in the designated area and voluntarily relocate people who live too close to it. That approach worked for Project Tiger. Business as usual on the cheetah programme, however, can only make it a safari that is characterised by frequent incidents of deadly conflict.
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