Bhopal: On 21 December, forest authorities re-introduced one more translocated African Cheetah into the wild at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno-Palpur National Park. This was the fourth big cat to be moved out of enclosures, which the animals were confined to in July-August as a spate of deaths put a cloud over the Modi government’s ambitious Project Cheetah.
For a mission fraught with uncertainty and death since its launch in September 2022 — six adult cats and three cubs have died so far — the development was momentous.
Uttam Sharma, Kuno’s chief conservator of forests (CCF), has been the man on the ground at Kuno-Palpur National Park since eight cheetahs were first translocated from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno in a bid to revive the country’s extinct Cheetah population. The number of spotted cats at the national park currently stands at 17 — including the lone surviving cub from a litter of four born to a female, Siyaya (renamed Jwala), days after her translocation.
Sharma was posted to the park on 1 September — merely 16 days before the animals arrived in India. In an interview with ThePrint, he speaks about his experience — how the cheetahs have adapted to their new home, how the project is progressing, about cheetah deaths reported over the last year, and what are the challenges in an ambitious project such as this.
Also Read: Cheetah is India’s new conservation icon after tiger. It can save grasslands
Q: Project Cheetah is now over a year old. How would you describe your experience of being at the helm of affairs?
A: It’s been a new and great experience. I was posted at Kuno National Park on 1 September, and 16 days later, on 17 September, the cheetahs arrived. I had a short time to learn and execute. Although there was academic knowledge and experience of (experts) from Namibia and South Africa, there was no Indian experience of managing cheetahs. These 15 months have been hectic, in which new things had to be learnt and immediately converted into practice within a short time. But it has given me immense pleasure and tremendous job satisfaction. I’m honoured to be part of it, and I did my best.
Q: What has been your most rewarding moment?
A: Being affiliated with this project has meant several high and low points. The first high point was when the prime minister himself came and released the cheetahs. This meant a great deal.
The second was when we successfully released the cheetahs from quarantine bomas (enclosures) into bigger bomas. We felt it was the biggest success as they could successfully hunt. For instance, 24 hours after he was released into a bigger enclosure, Rockstar hunted a chital deer.
The third was when we released the cheetahs from the softer bomas into the wild, which we managed successfully even though it was considered difficult.
Another major high point was when four cubs were born (to a newly translocated female cheetah, Jwala) and we released their pictures on 29 March. Everybody was ecstatic that we got four cubs.
Q: There have been nine cheetah deaths so far, none of them from the causes listed in the Cheetah Action Plan. Do you feel any of these deaths were avoidable or resulted from a lack of foresight?
A: After an incident has happened, with the help of hindsight you can evaluate things in a very different light. But when you are working in the field, it’s very difficult to say that our actions will translate into the precise results we want. Especially with life and biological entities, you never know what will happen and we see that every day.
The action plan was prepared when cheetahs were not there in India. There are certain things in the action plan based on their (experts’) experience in South Africa and Namibia and whatever academic literature is available on Cheetahs. But things were bound to happen differently on the ground and those who work on the field know that. You can’t write something and stick to it like it’s the Bible.
Q: How did the team help the lone cub survive?
A: On 27 March, just two days before the cubs were born, we lost Sasha (a female cheetah who died due to a kidney ailment). Everyone’s spirits were low. But we also had a hunch that Siyaya (Jwala) had given birth but as we did not have pictures, we could not declare it.
But within two months, three of the four cubs died and we were devastated. However, the surviving fourth cub became a source of motivation. But when tried to reunite the cub with the mother a few days later, she refused to accept her. On the advice from Namibian experts who have raised cubs in captivity, we kept the cub close to the mother even while taking care of her.
We have been partially successful — the cub is now nine months old and although fully grown, can’t take care of itself. But raising the cub has involved a lot of learning and if more such cubs come into Kuno National Park, this experience will be of great help.
Q: Will this Cheetah cub be able to hunt by itself and survive in the wild?
A: We’ve successfully rewilded tigers in Madhya Pradesh in the past. I’m sure this will be successful too.
Also Read: Is India’s Project Tiger going off script? Big cat deaths from Corbett to Pench to Kanha
Q: In October, the Cheetah Steering Committee had said there wasn’t an adequate prey base (chital deer) in Kuno. And it gave an in-principle approval for their release a month later. How did that happen?
A: When we say there isn’t enough prey base, we have to put it in the context. There is an assumption based on a calculation made in the action plan that a certain prey density is required for a certain cheetah population to establish itself at Kuno National Park. But any change in that desired prey density number will not immediately lead to the national park becoming unsuitable for cheetahs.
(Say, for instance) if a recent estimation shows slight negative changes in chital density (at Kuno), it does not mean cheetahs cannot survive in the wild. (Suppose) a chital density of 50/sq km (is deemed necessary) to sustain a certain number of cheetahs and other carnivores, we cannot say that a chital density of 20/sq km will make forest area unsuitable for their survival. It doesn’t work that way.
The steering committee made its observation based on prey density but we should not link it to the cheetah surviving in the wild at Kuno National Park.
Second, prey density estimation is done regularly in Kuno. There is no major change in it.
The other important aspect we need to understand is that if we are talking about prey density in Kuno National Park, then cheetahs don’t always stay put. They travel great distances and keep moving in and out of the Kuno Wildlife Division, which itself is 50 percent bigger than the Kuno national park, and the territorial divisions (territorial forests in neighbouring Sheopur and Shivpuri districts) where no regular prey estimations are done, and prey density is much lower compared to Kuno.
In addition, the chital density at Kuno National Park alone cannot determine whether the forest can sustain a viable cheetah population. There are other factors like suitable habitat and protection issues that play an important role.
Q: The first pair of male cheetahs, Agni and Vayu, have been released into the safari zone of the Kuno-Palpur National Park. What are the odds of a tourist sighting them?
A: We had released them in the hope that they would stay there for a few days, but they keep moving to different areas. So I’m not sure if they’ll be spotted.
Q: Are tourism facilities in the region adequate? Are there any additional tourism arrangements being made expecting a high footfall of tourists coming to see them?
A: At this point, we’re not focussed on tourism. Our only concern is a viable cheetah population in Kuno National Park. Tourism is always a byproduct of our conservation efforts, and wherever possible, we will try to improve the footfall in Kuno National Park. But right now, our focus is to have a free-ranging cheetah population and we have put all our efforts in that direction.
Also Read: ‘Ecologically unsound, costly, distraction’: Conservationists slam India’s cheetah project
Q. The steering committee had also pointed out the lack of a landscape management plan in the Cheetah Action Plan. How do you plan on handling the cheetahs as they are being released in the wild once again?
A: The responsibility of developing a landscape plan has been given to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The plan includes covering nine districts of MP and two UP.
Cheetahs move great distances. Our park is 748 sq km, and along with 500 sq km of buffer area, roughly makes for 1,235 sq km of area. But we still cannot say that cheetahs will remain in this area. Beyond that is the Kuno Forest Division, Sheopur, which is roughly 3,000 sq km of good forest area, and the territorial forest in Shivpuri district.
The trouble is that there are different administrations for managing this whole landscape. For instance, in the territorial forests of Sheopur and Shivpuri, cheetahs are not an issue of primary concern. So their plans have a different focus area.
The challenge is to reconcile these management practices. For this, there is continuous interaction between administrations. We also interact with nearby villagers because cheetahs tend to go into fields.
A landscape management plan gives you a framework in which you can plan your strategy and identify parts that need focus. But until then, we’ll have to devise our own strategy to manage the cheetahs.
Q. Earlier this month, the male cheetah, Agni, went up to Rajasthan. In the past too, there have been instances of cheetahs going to Uttar Pradesh borders. In all these cases, they were tranquilised and brought back. Do you feel this is the only way to go forward once all the cheetahs are released into the wild?
A: The tranquilisation drugs, once they wear off, have no negative effects. An animal can be tranquilised multiple times if the need arises. But how do you manage cheetahs when they go out? And can we allow cheetahs to go wherever they want?
You have brought cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa in such small numbers that if they go wander off, there will be none left. The idea is to mate them and help revive the cheetah population. But if these cheetahs wander off in different directions, how will you ever have a viable population? We have to keep them close to each other so we can improve the chances of the next generation.
Also, a cheetah moving in an unknown area is a danger to itself. There might be open wells, snares, wires, or electric current. These are things beyond our control.
Q: This month, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) gave an in-principle approval to release two cheetahs into the cheetah safari. Could you tell us more about the safari?
A: It’s a small 180-hectare area of which 55 hectares is revenue land and the rest is forest land. Some cheetahs will be put inside this fenced area so that people can go in and see them. Typically, a safari is for both research and tourism purposes. The cheetah is new to India and there’s a need to spread awareness about them. This is so when we have cheetahs in different parts of the country, people are more aware of them.
Only those cheetahs that we’re sure cannot survive in the wild will be in the safari.
Q: At this point, do we feel any of our cheetahs are not fit for the wild?
A: No.
Q: What is the latest update on the plan to bring in more cheetahs? Do you think the project has seen enough success to take it forward?
A: That is for the officials from the central government to answer. But in Kuno, we have no information on any more incoming cheetahs.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: Tourist rush into a sleepy Tamil Nadu town causing wildlife roadkill. 2 ecologists helping