South African cheetah conservationist Vincent van der Merwe, who played a key role in introducing cheetahs in Kuno, Madhya Pradesh, was found dead in his Riyadh apartment on March 16. He was 42. Police sources said he fell and “stopped moving after hitting his head on the floor” in the hallway of his apartment building. While the incident was reportedly captured on security cameras, a medical examiner’s report is awaited. Only last Thursday, say sources, Vincent’s contract with the Saudi authorities for a cheetah reintroduction project under the National Centre for Wildlife (NCW) was extended by a year. “He seemed his usual cheerful self and had a barbeque party with friends on Friday. His colleagues received his routine messages on Saturday about a mother cheetah and her cubs in one of our reserves. Then came this shocker on Sunday,” said one of his friends from South Africa. Vincent organised the transfer of cheetahs to India from South Africa in 2022-23 and spent weeks in Kuno, handholding the field staff and guiding them into taking care of a species new to them. “He was a metapopulation expert and knew where to source surplus cheetahs from. Very friendly and supportive, he acted as a bridge between South African reserve managers and us. He also provided a lot of insight into cheetah management and helped us in the field at Kuno. His death is a devastating news. We lost a good friend of India,” said S P Yadav, former head of Project Cheetah and director general of International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA). Apart from the cheetah introduction project in Saudi Arabia, Vincent’s The Metapopulation Initiative (TMI) — a coalition of private cheetah reserves in South Africa — was also involved in chalking out a plan to introduce locally captive-bred cheetahs to Kuno and Gandhisagar landscape after wilding them at a facility in Gujarat’s Banni, sources say. The metapopulation approach of Vincent’s TMI expanded a population of 217 cheetahs in 41 South African reserves to 537 cheetahs in 75 reserves in five countries since 2011. The future of the initiative will now depend on its biggest funder, South Africa’s Endangered Wildlife Trust, and Vincent’s family. He is survived by his brother Derek, an expert on wild dogs with EWT, and a sister. Sources among Vincent’s friends said they were concerned about his Schistosomiasis, a condition caused by parasitic flatworm that enters through the skin from infected water bodies. “Vincent had to visit home (South Africa) every few months for treatment. But he was a fighter. He never lost his smile, even with a dislocated shoulder he suffered while playing rugby sometime back,” said one of his friends.
