India aims to make interstate cheetah conservation complex within 25 years

India aims to build an inter-state cheetah conservation complex in the Kuno-Gandhi Sagar landscapes across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan within the next 25 years, according to the 2023-24 annual progress report of Project Cheetah.

The report, released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority on the completion of two years of Project Cheetah on September 17, said while a new batch of cheetahs was likely to be brought to the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary by the end of the year, they would be released into free-ranging conditions over the next five years.

According to the "Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in Gandhi Sagar", five to eight cheetahs would be released into a 64-square kilometre predator-proof fenced area in the first phase, with a focus on breeding.

"Both these landscapes, along the interstate border of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, are adjacent to each other, and the combined landscapes together can constitute the Kuno-Gandhi Sagar cheetah landscape for metapopulation management of 60-70 cheetahs after restorative measures, prey availability, and scientific management are effectively in place, as an interstate cheetah conservation complex within the next 25 years under the umbrella of Project Cheetah," the report read.

This larger Kuno-Gandhi Sagar landscape is located in the Sheopur, Shivpuri, Gwalior, Morena, Guna, Ashoknagar, Mandsaur and Neemuch districts of Madhya Pradesh and Baran, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Kota, Jhalawar, Bundi and Chittorgarh districts of Rajasthan.

The Bhind and Datia districts in Madhya Prsadesh, Dholpur in Rajasthan, and Lalitpur and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh adjacent to this landscape would be incorporated as part of the complex, depending on cheetahs' use of the region, according to the report.

While authorities have been busy preparing the 368-square kilometre Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary for the next batch of cheetahs, the ones in Kuno remain inside enclosures that are only 0.5 to 1.5 square kilometres in size.

For context, cheetahs need much larger areas in the wild, usually over 50 square kilometres, depending on prey availability.

"During July-August 2023, all the free-ranging cheetahs were captured for treatment and housed in quarantine bomas due to health reasons and subsequently shifted to soft-release enclosures. Currently, all the cheetahs are in soft-release enclosures and will be released in a phased manner post-monsoon," the report said.

According to officials, the animals were brought back to their enclosures after the deaths of three cheetahs -- a female named Tbilisi (from Namibia) and two South African males, Tejas and Sooraj -- from septicemia, an infection that occurs when bacteria enter the bloodstream and spread.

This condition arose from wounds under the cheetahs' thick winter coats on their backs and necks, which became infested with maggots and led to blood infections.

Officials had earlier told PTI that the unexpected growth of winter coats in some cheetahs during the Indian summer and monsoon, in anticipation of the African winter (June to September), was a major challenge in managing the animals in India during the first year.

Records obtained by PTI under the Right to Information Act showed that India considered sourcing new cheetahs from Somalia, Tanzania, Sudan, and other range countries closer to the Equator or in the Northern Hemisphere to avoid biorhythm complications observed in big cats brought from Southern Hemisphere countries such as South Africa and Namibia.

The report said the cheetahs had managed to successfully coexist with the large carnivores in the Kuno National Park.

They are continuously monitored by teams of forest staff, veterinarians and researchers for their wellbeing and to understand their ecology such as predation, movement and habitat use. Management interventions were made as and when the situation demanded, it said.