Despite deaths, govt says cheetahs to remain in MP

Bhopal: Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Saturday said the cheetahs will continue to remain in the Kuno national park in Madhya Pradesh and asserted that the project will be successful.

“We are in touch with experts, including international experts. Our team will visit there. They will not be relocated and will remain in Kuno only,” the Minister said.

Yadav’s comments came amid concern expressed by some experts on the cheetah project. While a South African expert suggested that septicemia caused by radio collars could be a possible reason behind the death of two male cheetahs in MP this week, another expert said only the post-mortem report will determine the exact cause.

Male cheetah Suraj, translocated from South Africa, died at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur on Friday, while another translocated male cheetah Tejas died on Tuesday.

Vincent van der Merwe, a South African cheetah metapopulation expert, said extreme wet conditions are causing the radio collars to create infection and possibly that was the reason behind the death of these cheetahs.

The death of two cheetahs has pushed the fatality count to eight, including three cubs, in less than four months.

Asked about the fate of the cheetah project in India, Merwe sounded optimistic.”We still have 75 per cent of the founder population alive and well in India. So all is still on track with observed mortality well within normal parameters for wild cheetah reintroduction,” he added. KNP director Uttam Sharma said they have sent the post-mortem reports of the two cheetahs to the senior authorities in Bhopal.