Dheera becomes first female shifted to Gandhi Sagar under Project Cheetah expansion.
Move coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 75th birthday visit to Madhya Pradesh.
South African officials question India’s translocation strategy after rising cheetah mortalities.
A female cheetah is scheduled to be transferred from Kuno National Park in Sheopur district to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary on September 17. Earlier, two cheetahs were moved from Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park to the sanctuary in Mandsaur district, officials, according to The Hindu.
Sheopur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) R Thirukaral told The Hindu that the occasion aligns with the third anniversary of Project Cheetah, which was launched to translocate the cats from different African countries to India. He claimed that the action is intended to increase the population of cheetahs at Gandhi Sagar.
Recounting the transfer of two male cheetahs named Prabhas and Pawak, he further confirmed to The Hindu that a female cheetah named Dheera will be shifted to Gandhi Sagar. He added that the transfer will be made by road following all safety protocols.
The occasion coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district on September 17—which also marks his 75th birthday— to lay the foundation stone for India’s first PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) Park. During the event, Prime Minister Modi also launched various other projects.
On the same day in 2022, Prime Minister Modi had released eight cheetahs translocated from Namibia at Kuno, initiating the cheetah reintroduction programme in India after their extinction in 1952.
Earlier on September 16, an Indian-born sub-adult female cheetah was found dead in Kuno National Park. The preliminary inquiry suggested a clash with a leopard. The 20-month-old, born to African cheetah Jwala, had been released into the wild in February after being raised in an enclosure. The post-mortem examination is yet to confirm the details.
“She had left her mother more than a month ago and left her siblings a few days ago. The preliminary cause of the death seems to be a fight with a leopard. Further details will be known after the PM report is received. Kuno now has 25 cheetahs, nine adults [six females and three males], and 16 Indian-born. All are healthy and doing well,” Kuno Field Director Uttam Kumar Sharma said in a statement, reported The Hindu.
Global Scrutiny Intensifies Project
As reported by Mongabay, Project Cheetah is experiencing ethical and ecological scrutiny with conservationists from South Africa opposing the translocation, calling the mortalities “unjustifiable”.
A spokesperson from the South African government told Mongabay that the country’s Minister for Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, Dion George, will conduct a review of the cheetah translocation project in India and “consider all the available science,” before proceeding with any further cheetah exports.
