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Showing posts from September, 2024

Kuno Cheetah Deaths: What Recent Incidents Reveal About India’s Conservation Effort

Multiple cheetah deaths in Kuno raise questions about habitat limits, prey scarcity, and management. A data-driven look at the challenges facing India’s cheetah project T wo back-to-back cheetah deaths—one from a suspected collision inside the forest and another caused by a speeding vehicle—have once again pushed the spotlight onto the ambitious yet troubled cheetah introduction project in Kuno National Park . While officials have issued preliminary statements, the absence of publicly released post-mortem and investigation reports related to the past such cases has deepened concerns about transparency at a time when clarity is essential. The recent incidents highlight the ecological and management challenges that continue to shape the project’s uncertain trajectory. Each Loss Is Significant Setback On December 5, Friday, one of Veera’s cubs recently released into the open forest, died after reportedly separating from its mother. Just two days later, on December 7, another young cheetah...

Future Tense For Cute Cheetah Cubs of Kuno

  Kuno National park released two short documentaries with beautiful pictures of cheetah cubs and their mothers.The cute cheetah cubs in the moving pictures  attract eyeballs. Cheetah siblings playing in the lush green grasslands after monsoon in Kuno fascinate all and sundry. For record, in the last 24 months, the same number of cheetahs survived- 12 adult cheetahs of the original 20 airlifted from Africa – Namibia and South Africa- and 12 of the 17 cubs born in Kuno. As the Union ministry of Environment ,Forest  and Climate Change (MoEFC&C) celebrates the “two successful years of the cheetah project in Kuno”, lo and behold, all the cheetahs are still in captivity and none of them are free ranging so far.What  is the future of these cubs . Their future  is  linked with the  future of  the cheetah project.  Safe in Boma, Cubs Yet to Face Jungle Threats The documentaries showcase  playful  cheetah cubs in Kuno. The first cheetah...

Prolonged Cheetah Captivity in Kuno Delays Next Batch of Cheetah

  India intends to bring 12 cheetahs annually for 8 to 10 years to continue its ambitious cheetah introduction project. But for the past 18 months, the country has not been able to procure  cheetahs from any of the countries in Africa   where cheetahs are found . Apparently they- the African countries are "quite worried over the fact that none of the surviving cheetahs in India are free ranging" - meaning they are still  placed inside  large enclosures or bomas in Kuno national park ”, confides a senior official in  Delhi.Death of   cheetah Pawan further worsens the situation. India’s much hyped and ambitious Cheetah reintrodution project seems to have hit a major roadblock. The first batch of 8 cheetahs reached India in September 2022 followed by 12 more spotted cats from South Africa in February 2023.   Why India Not Getting Cheetahs Restoring cheetah populations is considered by India to have vital and far-reaching conservation ...