Three years on, India’s cheetah reintroduction struggles with poor science, delays, and missed grassland objectives.
Timeline: Three Years of Venture Cheetah
2022 (September): Eight cheetahs from Namibia arrive at Kuno Nationwide Park. Venture formally launched.
2023 (February): Twelve extra cheetahs translocated from South Africa. One feminine offers beginning to 4 cubs in March (just one survives).
2023–24: Sequence of deaths because of infections, stress, and predator conflicts. Considerations develop over extended captivity in bomas. No new imports regardless of the Motion Plan goal of 5–10 yearly.
2024: Worldwide hesitation stalls additional transfers. Panorama enlargement to Gandhi Sagar and Rajasthan stays largely on paper.
2025: Botswana agrees in precept to ship eight cheetahs — 4 in late 2025, 4 in 2026.
The Stalled Panorama Imaginative and prescient
Gandhi Sagar nonetheless struggles with a weak prey base. Rajasthan has made no seen progress on web site preparation. The bigger thought — that cheetah reintroduction would additionally drive grassland restoration — has barely been acted upon. India’s grasslands proceed to be labelled “wastelands,” leaving them weak to diversion for growth initiatives. In consequence, the ecological rationale of the cheetah venture — to make use of the predator as an umbrella species for ecosystem revival — has been diluted.
The place Does the Venture Stand At this time?
To be truthful, Venture Cheetah has not been with out achievements. The actual fact that wild-born cubs appeared in India is a milestone. Veterinary protocols, radio-collaring methods, and skilled monitoring groups had been arrange in document time. The venture gained some recognition, together with the “Progressive Initiative Award” on the Eco Warrior Awards. However these beneficial properties should be set towards sobering realities. As many as 19 cheetahs, together with 10 cubs, have died in simply three years. Many have spent extended intervals in captivity somewhat than roaming free. Administration has usually appeared advert hoc, with selections taken in response to crises somewhat than grounded in long-term ecological planning. The short-term emphasis has shifted from rewilding and panorama revival to merely preserving the surviving cheetahs alive.
So, how ought to we assess Venture Cheetah on the three-year mark? The trustworthy reply is that for its long-term goals, it’s nonetheless too early to inform. Reintroductions are complicated, gradual, and crammed with setbacks. It will be unrealistic to count on a thriving free-ranging cheetah inhabitants inside such a brief span. However with regards to short-term objectives, the image is much less encouraging. Implementation has been weak and riddled with deviations from the Motion Plan. The venture has leaned on poor science and insufficient monitoring, whereas clear evaluation has been conspicuously absent. With out goal evaluation, the identical errors maintain recurring.Equally worrying is the narrative administration. There seems to be stress to current the venture as a grand success, even when proof suggests in any other case. This tendency to have a good time prematurely dangers masking the gaps that want fixing.
This brings us to the central paradox of Venture Cheetah. On paper, it’s about ecological restoration — reviving grasslands, conserving open pure ecosystems, and securing related species. In observe, nonetheless, it has turn into about disaster administration, captive holding, and importing a trickle of cheetahs to take care of appearances.Except the venture realigns itself with its founding function, it dangers turning into little greater than a conservation mascot train. Cheetahs can not survive — not to mention thrive — with out expansive, wholesome habitats, sturdy prey bases, and landscape-level connectivity. With out these, India dangers preserving cheetahs alive in enclosures whereas their bigger function — ecosystem revival — slips away.
Classes for the Future
The best way ahead requires extra humility, extra science, and extra honesty. India should guarantee its import commitments. We additionally must introspect what went improper in relations with our preliminary cheetah companions -Namibia and South African. Prey base augmentation should be prioritised. Unbiased scientific monitoring needs to be inspired, not resisted. Three years on, Venture Cheetah stands at a crossroads. It stays a strong image of ecological ambition, a reminder that India dared to undo an extinction. But it surely additionally reveals how ambition can falter when planning is weak, science is sidelined, and politics takes priority over ecology.
It’s nonetheless too early to put in writing the venture off, however the warning indicators are laborious to disregard. Except India learns from these three misplaced years and realigns observe with function, Venture Cheetah could also be remembered extra for its spectacle than its substance. The approaching years will resolve whether or not the cheetah turns into a real agent of grassland revival, or just a conservation curiosity .
By: Deshdeep Saxena
Pictures courtesy: Kuno Nationwide Park
