MP Forest Dept seeks ‘alternate’ site for cheetahs

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh forest department has asked the Centre for an “alternate” site for cheetahs currently introduced at the Kuno National Park, which has seen the death of two felines in less than a month, with officials citing lack of logistical support and space.

A senior state forest official on condition of anonymity said they do not have enough logistical support for the upkeep for the cheetahs, brought in two batches of 8 and 12 felines from Namibia and South Africa respectively since September last year. “We need nine staffers to keep an eye on one cheetah round-the-clock. We don’t have enough hands,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Asked about the space shortage, the official said it was secondary and added that “not just space, we need a lot of logistics.”

Notably, before the cheetahs were imported, some experts had raised doubt over the space shortage likely to affect the cheetah reintroduction project at the Kuno National Park (KNP), which has a core area of 748 sq km and buffer zone of 487 sq km.

On Sunday, the KNP witnessed a second cheetah fatality in less than a month as a six-year-old male feline named Uday, translocated from South Africa in February, died due to cardio-pulmonary failure, as per preliminary assessment.

The incident is seen as a major setback for the ambitious ‘Project Cheetah’ under which 20 felines were translocated to KNP in Sheopur district from Namibia and South Africa in separate batches in September 2022 and February 2023.

One of the eight Namibian cheetahs, Sasha, aged more than four-and-a-half-years, died of a kidney ailment at KNP on March 27. Another cheetah, Siyaya, recently gave birth to four cubs in KNP. Besides, cheetah Oban, now renamed Pavan, has strayed out of the KNP multiple times.