“Project Cheetah” was decided on high ground. Narendra Modi himself wanted it to mark the 75ᵉ anniversary of India’s independence. The project to restore a sustainable population of cheetahs in India, however, is nothing new since it was launched in 2009 under the government of Manhmohan Sing, but India’s current Prime Minister has taken it personally. It was he who, on his 72nd birthday on September 17, 2022, personally opened the cages for wild animals. during the reintroduction of eight of them from Namibia in the Ancient Gardens in the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India.

From, another twelve cheetahs joins the national park which is located in a forest grassland rich area of ​​750 square kilometers. But the reintroduction surgery appears to have gone sour. Over the last few months, six adult fawns and three babies have died. The first woman died on March 27, 2023 due to kidney failure. A month later, a man was also found dead for unknown reasons. At the same time, in May, a female named Siyaya lost three of her four cubs just two months old dehydrated after a heatwave. A fourth baby cheetah was taken from him and is now being raised in captivity.

Six adults and three children did not survive.

A female was also seriously injured in May after being attacked by two males placed in her cage by members of the ‘Project Cheetah’ team to mate with. Two more cheetahs from South Africa were found dead in July, bringing the number of dead adults to five of the 20 reintroduced into the Ancient National Park. Maggot-infested wounds were found on the necks of both cheetahs on their GPS collars, causing sepsis. On August 2, a ninth cheetah body, a sixth adult, female, was added to this heavy toll.

Reintroducing animals to the wild, especially cheetahs, is always tricky. In South Africa, where they have been transported for many years, 6 to 7% of cats transferred to fenced reserves die after being moved, but in the case of Ancient Parks, with its high mortality rate, things happened. much worse than expected , even if the scientists “Project Cheetah” wanted to convince. ” Cheetahs have adapted very well to their Indian environment », confirm for Geographic national SP Yadav, Director of the National Tiger Conservation which oversees the program. In reviews Natural, Adrian Tordiffe, veterinarian at the University of Pretoria and consultant on “Project Cheetah” assures not to be surprised by the death toll. ” The death toll is so high in such a short time is not unusual, he asserted, as this is a high risk period. Once everything stabilizes, we will reach a plateau “. But since then, three adult cheetahs have died.

Doubts from the start of the program

The fact remains that since the launch of the reintroduction program, many specialists have expressed serious doubts about the viability of the project. In October 2022, eight scientists warned about “ misguided conservation efforts “. In the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, they consider the Indian project as “ ecologically unfounded, expensive, and can serve as a distraction rather than aid to global cheetah conservation efforts “.

Meanwhile, the Indian government says the park can house up to 21 cheetahs in freedom. According to calculations by some scientists published in the April 2023 journal Conservative Science and Practice, this represents three individuals per 100 square kilometers. Cheetah densities have never been seen in Africa where it is more than on the order of one cheetah per 100 square kilometers. Due to its size, the Ancient Park would not have had enough prey, especially since the cheetahs also had to compete with the leopards that also existed in the area.

” Cheetahs need a lot of space to live, with a low animal density. Authorities hoped there would be 21 cheetahs there in 15 years, but the park they chose was too small to accommodate so many. And even if it did, it would not be sustainable, because to sustain a cheetah population, you need at least 50 adults. So this reintroduction was badly done “, confirmed into the microphone RFI Ravi Chellam, wildlife biologist and director of the Center for Collaborative Biodiversity, even before the start of cheetah reintroduction in September 2022.

The case took a political turn

Launched with great fanfare under the scrutiny of cameras and in the presence of Narendra Modi, the throwback reintroduction programme, however, has today taken a political turn in India. In early May after the death of the first three cheetahs, India’s Supreme Court was concerned about the situation, pointing to too high a concentration of individuals in one and the same area. He suggested to Narendra Modi’s government to move some of the big cats to Rajasthan, the opposition-run state. Chief Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai later called for no “ policies of politicians on such issues “.

Since then, other cheetahs have died and experts from South Africa and Namibia, including Adrian Tordiffe, wrote to India’s Supreme Court to tell him about them serious concern “about the project that claimed the death of some cheetahs” could have been avoided “. They also claim that the team responsible for “Project Cheetah” ” have little or no scientific skills and ignoring the advice of foreign experts since Dr Yadvendradev Jhala, the project’s architect, was forced to retire in 2022.

In mid-July, India’s Supreme Court again prosecuted demanding an explanation from the Narendra Modi government, questioning the reasons why there had been no solution for removing some of the animals. ” If this project is so prestigious for the country, so many deaths in less than a year doesn’t give a good image. “, said the Court.