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African cheetah translocation to India
India's native subspecies of the cheetah—the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus)—became extinct there in the mid-20th century. Since then, the Asiatic subspecies has survived only in Iran in critically endangered numbers. In September 2022, small numbers of Southeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus), a non-native sub-species in India, were translocated from Namibia and South Africa to a national park in India. The translocation to Kuno National Park in Central India was permitted on a short-term basis by the Supreme Court of India in January 2020.
The Asiatic cheetah whose significant cultural history in India had given the Sanskrit-derived vernacular name "cheetah", or "spotted", to the species, Acinonyx jubatus, also experienced gradual habitat loss in the region. Before the thorn forests in the Punjab region—to the northwest—were cleared for agriculture and human settlement, they were intermixed with open grasslands grazed by large herds of blackbuck; these co-existed with their main natural predator, the Asiatic cheetah. In the early modern era, tame cheetahs had been kept for the pursuit of game by Indian nobility. As a result, the blackbuck is no longer a living species in the Punjab region. A combination of similar habitat loss, prey depletion, and trophy hunting during the British Raj in India led to the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah in other regions of its habitat, the last recorded killing taking place in 1947, when India was on the verge of decolonization.
Discussions on cheetah introduction began after the mid-1950s. Proposals were made to the governments of Iran in the 1970s, but unsuccessfully. Offers were made by the government of Kenya beginning in the 1980s but by 2012 the Supreme Court of India had outlawed the project for a species translocation, considering it, in addition, an "introduction" rather than a "reintroduction." In January 2020, the court reversed its 2012 decision, and allowed for the import of small numbers on an experimental basis. On 17 September 2022, five female and three male southeast African cheetahs, between the ages of four and six, were transported by air from Namibia and released in a quarantined enclosure within Kuno National Park in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The relocation was supervised by Laurie Marker, of the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund and Yadvendradev Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India. The cheetahs, fitted with radio collars, were moved to a larger enclosure in November. A further 12 cheetahs arrived from South Africa in February 2023 and began to be released into the park in March 2023. That month a cheetah gave birth to four cubs, the first recorded live cheetah birth in India in over 70 years. The first death was reported later in the month and by January 2024, ten animals had died.
The scientific reaction to the translocation has been mixed. Veterinary pharmacologist Adrian Tordiffe views India as providing a "protected space" for a threatened population. Zoologist K. Ullas Karanth has been critical of the effort, conjecturing that potential mortalities might require a continual import of African cheetahs. Kuno National Park is a relatively new national park fully established in 2018. Scientists have expressed concern that 20 cheetahs from Africa with typically large individual territories of 100 km2 (39 sq mi) might be difficult to accommodate in a park with a core zone of 748 km2 (289 sq mi) and a buffer zone of 487 km2 (188 sq mi). Increasing cheetah populations might lead to the animals venturing out of the core zones of the park into adjoining agricultural lands and non-forested areas, bringing them into conflict with humans. With this in mind, the Supreme Court of India ordered the Indian government to look for alternative parks to accommodate a potentially growing population. The African cheetahs had been projected to be a key species of a new phase of ecological restoration in India. By September 17, 2024, the second anniversary of the introduction, all surviving 12 adult cheetahs and 12 cubs were limited to protective enclosures.
The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) once ranged from north western India to the Gangetic plain in the east, extending to the Deccan Plateau in the south. In the Middle Ages, Mughal Empire rulers supposedly used cheetahs for coursing blackbucks, chinkaras and antelopes. The species had a gradual history of habitat loss. In Punjab in Northern India, before the thorn forests were cleared for agriculture and human settlement, they were intermixed with open grasslands grazed by large herds of blackbuck and these co-existed with their main natural predator, the Asiatic cheetah. The blackbuck is also no longer extant in the region. Trapping of sub-adult cheetahs that have learned hunting skills from their mothers in the wild, for assisting in royal hunts is said to be the major cause of the species' rapid decline. Trophy hunting during the British Raj further impacted the already dwindling population of cheetahs. Asiatic cheetahs rarely breed in captivity as there is only one record of a litter ever born to captive animals.
By the beginning of the 20th century, wild cheetah sightings were rare in India, so much so that between 1918 and 1945, Indian princes imported cheetahs from Africa for coursing. The last confirmed three cheetahs were shot by Maharajah of Surguja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo in 1948. The last known sighting was that of a female in 1951 in Koriya district in northwestern Chhattisgarh. With the death of the last known population and no further sightings, the species was declared locally extinct in 1952. The Asiatic subspecies is now found only in Iran and is declared as critically endangered.
In 1955, the State Wildlife Board of Andhra Pradesh suggested the reintroduction of the Asiatic cheetah on an experimental basis in two districts of the state. In the 1970s, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Government of India formally wrote to the Iranian government requesting Asiatic cheetahs for reintroduction and received a positive response. The talks stalled after the Iranian Revolution. In 1984, wildlife conservationist Divyabhanusinh wrote a paper on the subject on the request of Ministry of Environment and Forests, which was subsequently sent to the Cat Specialist Group of Species Survival Commission of the IUCN. In the late 1980s, Government of Kenya reportedly offered to send a few members of related sub-species Southeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus).
During the early 2000s, scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, proposed a plan to clone Asiatic cheetahs from Iran. In August 2009, talks were rekindled with Iran for sharing a few of the animals. The dwindling population of the species in the existent range made Iran hesitant to commit to the idea. Iran proposed that Asiatic lions which are existent only in India be given in exchange for cheetahs for which India refused and the plan to source cheetahs from Iran was eventually dropped in 2010.
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African cheetah translocation to India
India's native subspecies of the cheetah—the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus)—became extinct there in the mid-20th century. Since then, the Asiatic subspecies has survived only in Iran in critically endangered numbers. In September 2022, small numbers of Southeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus), a non-native sub-species in India, were translocated from Namibia and South Africa to a national park in India. The translocation to Kuno National Park in Central India was permitted on a short-term basis by the Supreme Court of India in January 2020.
The Asiatic cheetah whose significant cultural history in India had given the Sanskrit-derived vernacular name "cheetah", or "spotted", to the species, Acinonyx jubatus, also experienced gradual habitat loss in the region. Before the thorn forests in the Punjab region—to the northwest—were cleared for agriculture and human settlement, they were intermixed with open grasslands grazed by large herds of blackbuck; these co-existed with their main natural predator, the Asiatic cheetah. In the early modern era, tame cheetahs had been kept for the pursuit of game by Indian nobility. As a result, the blackbuck is no longer a living species in the Punjab region. A combination of similar habitat loss, prey depletion, and trophy hunting during the British Raj in India led to the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah in other regions of its habitat, the last recorded killing taking place in 1947, when India was on the verge of decolonization.
Discussions on cheetah introduction began after the mid-1950s. Proposals were made to the governments of Iran in the 1970s, but unsuccessfully. Offers were made by the government of Kenya beginning in the 1980s but by 2012 the Supreme Court of India had outlawed the project for a species translocation, considering it, in addition, an "introduction" rather than a "reintroduction." In January 2020, the court reversed its 2012 decision, and allowed for the import of small numbers on an experimental basis. On 17 September 2022, five female and three male southeast African cheetahs, between the ages of four and six, were transported by air from Namibia and released in a quarantined enclosure within Kuno National Park in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The relocation was supervised by Laurie Marker, of the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund and Yadvendradev Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India. The cheetahs, fitted with radio collars, were moved to a larger enclosure in November. A further 12 cheetahs arrived from South Africa in February 2023 and began to be released into the park in March 2023. That month a cheetah gave birth to four cubs, the first recorded live cheetah birth in India in over 70 years. The first death was reported later in the month and by January 2024, ten animals had died.
The scientific reaction to the translocation has been mixed. Veterinary pharmacologist Adrian Tordiffe views India as providing a "protected space" for a threatened population. Zoologist K. Ullas Karanth has been critical of the effort, conjecturing that potential mortalities might require a continual import of African cheetahs. Kuno National Park is a relatively new national park fully established in 2018. Scientists have expressed concern that 20 cheetahs from Africa with typically large individual territories of 100 km2 (39 sq mi) might be difficult to accommodate in a park with a core zone of 748 km2 (289 sq mi) and a buffer zone of 487 km2 (188 sq mi). Increasing cheetah populations might lead to the animals venturing out of the core zones of the park into adjoining agricultural lands and non-forested areas, bringing them into conflict with humans. With this in mind, the Supreme Court of India ordered the Indian government to look for alternative parks to accommodate a potentially growing population. The African cheetahs had been projected to be a key species of a new phase of ecological restoration in India. By September 17, 2024, the second anniversary of the introduction, all surviving 12 adult cheetahs and 12 cubs were limited to protective enclosures.
The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) once ranged from north western India to the Gangetic plain in the east, extending to the Deccan Plateau in the south. In the Middle Ages, Mughal Empire rulers supposedly used cheetahs for coursing blackbucks, chinkaras and antelopes. The species had a gradual history of habitat loss. In Punjab in Northern India, before the thorn forests were cleared for agriculture and human settlement, they were intermixed with open grasslands grazed by large herds of blackbuck and these co-existed with their main natural predator, the Asiatic cheetah. The blackbuck is also no longer extant in the region. Trapping of sub-adult cheetahs that have learned hunting skills from their mothers in the wild, for assisting in royal hunts is said to be the major cause of the species' rapid decline. Trophy hunting during the British Raj further impacted the already dwindling population of cheetahs. Asiatic cheetahs rarely breed in captivity as there is only one record of a litter ever born to captive animals.
By the beginning of the 20th century, wild cheetah sightings were rare in India, so much so that between 1918 and 1945, Indian princes imported cheetahs from Africa for coursing. The last confirmed three cheetahs were shot by Maharajah of Surguja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo in 1948. The last known sighting was that of a female in 1951 in Koriya district in northwestern Chhattisgarh. With the death of the last known population and no further sightings, the species was declared locally extinct in 1952. The Asiatic subspecies is now found only in Iran and is declared as critically endangered.
In 1955, the State Wildlife Board of Andhra Pradesh suggested the reintroduction of the Asiatic cheetah on an experimental basis in two districts of the state. In the 1970s, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Government of India formally wrote to the Iranian government requesting Asiatic cheetahs for reintroduction and received a positive response. The talks stalled after the Iranian Revolution. In 1984, wildlife conservationist Divyabhanusinh wrote a paper on the subject on the request of Ministry of Environment and Forests, which was subsequently sent to the Cat Specialist Group of Species Survival Commission of the IUCN. In the late 1980s, Government of Kenya reportedly offered to send a few members of related sub-species Southeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus).
During the early 2000s, scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, proposed a plan to clone Asiatic cheetahs from Iran. In August 2009, talks were rekindled with Iran for sharing a few of the animals. The dwindling population of the species in the existent range made Iran hesitant to commit to the idea. Iran proposed that Asiatic lions which are existent only in India be given in exchange for cheetahs for which India refused and the plan to source cheetahs from Iran was eventually dropped in 2010.