Project Cheetah Faces Challenges After Felines’ Death, 10 Released Will Be Brought Back to MP’s Kuno

From hot summers to now humid monsoon days, unfamiliar weather conditions continue to take their toll on African leopards that have been relocated to Kono National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Within a year of the reintroduction, five of the 20 adult felines had died, including three newborns.

After experiencing the sudden death of a male cheetah last week from blood poisoning, the expert group has now recommended that all cheetahs be recaptured for evaluation. Only five felines are in packs, the remaining 10 have been released into the wild.

Fear of infection

Experts said the African leopard that died on Friday had lesions on its neck, which could have likely caused a systemic infection. While the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) attributed the death to a “natural cause,” wildlife experts suggested otherwise.

South African wildlife veterinary specialist Professor Adrian Tordev said the problem was indeed with radio collars that cats wear for tracking purposes. “It is a completely unique problem and is associated with the very humid conditions in Qunu which is double the amount of rain that normally falls at this time of year. The constant moisture soaked the skin near the collars, which led to infection and further infestations of flies and worms. Eventually, this led to systemic infection, causing septicemia, and the animal died from septic shock.

Experts believe that other animals may suffer from somewhat the same problem. Concerns grew after one of the Namibian cheetahs was found with a similar problem during an initial examination. However, the cats were treated on time and managed to recover.

Move the wildlife head

A total of 20 cheetahs, which are classified as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN list, have been transported to India from South Africa and Namibia as part of the government’s major wildlife trial. The animals have yet to fully adapt to new and unfamiliar weather conditions and officials involved in the project say they are running into “problems they didn’t expect”.

On Monday, the government also moved Chief Forest Conservation Officer (PCCF) JS Chauhan who had been monitoring the project so far. Chauhan was assigned to the PCCF (Production), Bhopal, while Aseem Shrivastava from 1988 was assigned to the PCCF (Wildlife), Bhopal with immediate effect.

Will the collars be removed?

Senior South African wildlife veterinarian and wireless collar expert Dr. Mike Toft arrived in Qunu to check on the cheetahs. In a meeting on Monday, members of the Cheetah Steering Committee also discussed the treatment plan and protocol to be followed to evaluate Cheetahs, while deliberating on the use of wireless collars.

Speaking to News18, South African expert Dr Tordiffe confirmed that these radio collars are in widespread use in South Africa, and they did not see a problem because of them. “It’s very rare for the Panthers to have any problem with hoops. There was also an unexpected downpour that continued … all creating a perfect storm which led to a serious problem,” he asserted.

If the radio collars are removed, the Panthers will have to be placed in enclosures again for an indefinite period of time until the monitoring plan is completed.

“Releasing animals without collars would be irresponsible, because we wouldn’t be able to effectively monitor the animals in a new environment. We might have to adjust the collars. Also, this isn’t a matter of the collars not fitting properly. They haven’t caused any trouble so far when I’ve changed them.” “The conditions in terms of rainfall. Both the Namibian and South African cheetahs were affected, so the collars are not put on differently and that does cause a problem. But it is something we have to address very urgently.”