India Brings Back Cheetahs

Conservationists in India finally have enough resources and habitat to reintroduce the cheetah after the species was extinguished fifty years ago. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will transport the first eight cats--five males and three females from South Africa to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. There are other potential relocation site in Rajasthan. The Mogul emperor, Jahangir, reported 10,000 cheetahs in the 16th century; one thousand were in captivity in his court. The British exterminated cheetahs through bounty hunting because the cats were entering villages looking for food as their natural prey became scarce. India has been attempting to reintroduce the species since the 1950's.

There are risks associated with re-introduction. Many conservationists are of the opinion that India does not have enough wild habitat to support cheetahs. Often cheetahs are involved in human conflict as they will take livestock. Other big cats like leopards and tigers target them as competitors. Dr. Jhala of the WII says, "they are delicate animals...meant for speed and they avoid conflict." Kuno has a mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem of 282 square miles containing plenty of prey animals, but is unfenced. It is also home to leopards. Skeptics say that cheetahs need habitat ranging in size from 5,000 to 10,000 sq. km. and be mostly free of larger predators, including dogs. One conservationist bluntly observes, "The purpose of a reintroduction has to be to grow a viable population with dozens of cheetahs breeding in the wild. Just dumping some animals in the park will not help. This is a doomed project." Dr. Jhala remains positive about the cheetahs chances of returning to India, "We are looking at importing 40 cheetahs over the next five years." [photo credit: C. Senekal]