After year in enclosures, Kuno cheetahs set to be freed into the wild

Head of the Cheetah Steering Committee, Dr Rajesh Gopal, told The Indian Express the release will be done in a phased manner. “I was at the meeting with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) officials where we arrived at the decision to release the Cheetahs into the wild. This will be undertaken in a phased manner as the monsoons come to an end,” he said.

In Madhya Pradesh, the monsoon usually withdraws from most parts by the beginning of October.

Currently, there are 25 cheetahs at Kuno — 13 adults and 12 cubs, born at the national park. Under the translocation project, 20 cheetahs were brought to India in two batches — eight from Namibia in September 2022 and 12 from South Africa last February — of which seven have died until this January. The adult cheetahs gave birth to 17 cubs, of which 12 survived.

All the cheetahs are doing well, officials said, adding the animals are able to hunt chitals (spotted deer) inside their enclosures and have been designated “fit for release”. Kuno officials will also be sending a compilation of the best practices learnt over the year to the NTCA for further post-release strategies, they said.

Giving details of the sequence of the phase-wise release, Dr Gopal said the coalitions (group that lives together) will be released first followed by individual cheetahs and then, at last, the mothers with their cubs. The oldest of the cubs is around 8 months old and has begun climbing trees and following its mother on a hunt.

Said Dr Gupta: “The cheetah cubs and their mothers will be released in the last week of December. By this time the cubs will reach a stage in their life where they will be able to hunt for themselves.”

The only exceptions could be two elderly cheetahs and an orphaned cub abandoned by its mother. While the old cheetahs are not expected to be released at all, Kuno officials said the cub may not be released until it is “rewilded”.

After the male coalitions are released, Dr Gopal said their behaviour will be studied before the others are set into the wild. “We anticipate some unpredictable circumstances may arise. They may not immediately leave their enclosures or strat far away. We will study their behaviour and see if they are able to localise and release the other cheetahs,” he said.

Explaining some challenges facing the cubs, a senior Kuno official said, “The cubs will also go through a growth spurt and we need special collars for that. We may also need to keep replacing them. There are challenges in darting them and reuniting them with their mothers. We are thinking of possible strategies to address this.”

There are also challenges in the form of co-predators, such as leopards who stalk the landscape and the prey base of the chitals. However, a senior Kuno official dismissed these factors.

“Even when they spent months inside a soft release enclosure they were able to hunt chitals and survive leopards. We think they will be able to survive the wild. The latest estimate of prey base for chitals stands at 18 per sq Km. But they have found other prey like chinkara (Indian Gazelle) which was previously not found in some of these locations,” the officer said.

To fight the septicemia infection, which broke out last year, the veterinarians have already carried out prophylactic vaccination of the cheetahs. They have now begun preparing for preventive vaccinations for other diseases that may afflict the animals.

On the dense winter coats, Dr Gopal believes that in their third or fourth generation, the cheetahs born in India would finally be able to acclimatise to Indian conditions. “The Cheetahs from the African continent belonged to a different circadian rhythm. We hope that in two years their coat patterns may be synchronised,” he said.

Inside the enclosures, the cheetahs are currently monitored by dedicated teams, with around 15 people in all and comprising a forest watcher, forest guard and researchers. The tracking teams relay the information to the Control Room at Palpur, a remote location in the centre of Kuno which serves as the central hub for monitoring and controlling all activities related to the wild cats.

Senior officers at KNP are yet to receive orders from the steering committee. Said a senior KNP official, “We expect our teams to do the job of tracking and monitoring the cheetahs (after the release). It is a labour intensive job and we managed to successfully track the cheetahs last time as well. They have got enough training experience.”