Cheetah death: Project blames mating violence, experts question move to force animals together

“Interactions between male and female cheetahs, though infrequent, may indeed be aggressive. When the two sexes meet, the males often harass the female, probably trying to assess her reproductive condition. These interactions may sometimes last an hour or more before the males leave her if she is not in heat, occasionally in a mortally injured state. Far better for this to take place in a natural situation. I have no doubt that the captive situation increases the chances of the female getting mortally injured,” Dr Mills told The Indian Express.

Dr Sarah Durant, who heads the Zoological Society of London’s Serengeti Cheetah Project, said that aggression between males and females is common during cheetah consortship but, in her experience, it rarely causes serious injuries.

“Males usually hold a female hostage for a period, ranging from one hour up to a day or more, depending on whether she is in oestrus or not. Female mate choice plays a strong role in cheetah reproduction. If female mate choice was suppressed, this may have contributed to heightened aggression,” Dr Durant told The Indian Express.

Asked if the project officials followed any protocol to confirm the onset of oestrus before Dakhsha was introduced to the males, South African veterinarian Dr Adrian Tordiffe, part of the four-member NTCA team that made the recommendation, said that “norms and standards for the management of captive cheetahs do not apply” to Kuno as the “conditions are very different”.

“These are not typical confined conditions as Kuno’s acclimatisation camps are large enough for cheetahs to hunt. There is enough space for animals to interact without great risks of an individual being cornered. When the cheetahs from Namibia were allowed to interact, mating proceeded relatively peacefully and resulted in the birth of the four cubs. In the present case, all three animals are from the same reserve (Phinda). They had had interactions before and therefore it was felt that aggressive interactions were less likely,” said Dr Tordiffe.

This is the third cheetah death in Kuno since the project was launched last September.