NEW DELHI, May 8: Five more cheetahs — three females and two males — will be released from the acclimatisation camps into the open Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh before the onset of the monsoon in June, the Union Environment Ministry said on Monday.
It said the cheetahs would be allowed to move out of KNP and will not necessarily be “recaptured unless they venture into areas where they are in significant danger.”
So far, four of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia have been released from the fenced acclimatisation camps into free-ranging conditions in KNP. “Five more cheetahs (three females and two males) will be released from the acclimatisation camps into free-roaming conditions in KNP before the onset of the monsoon rains in June,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry said the decision was taken after a team of experts reviewed the current status of the “Project Cheetah” on the directions of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). They expert team said all the cheetahs were in good physical condition, making kills at regular intervals and displaying natural behaviours.
Cheetahs were chosen for release based on their behavioural characteristics and approachability by the monitoring teams. The rest of the cheetahs will remain in the acclimatisation camps for the duration of the monsoon season.
“Certain internal gates will be left open to allow these cheetahs to utilise more space and for interactions between specific males and females to take place,” the Ministry said. The situation will be reviewed after the monsoon season and further releases into KNP or surrounding areas will be done in a planned manner as per the Cheetah Conservation Action Plan to establish meta population, it said.
Of the four cheetahs that have already been released into free-ranging conditions, two (Gaurav and Shaurya) have stayed within the park and have not shown any interest in exploring the landscape beyond the borders of the park, according to the statement.
A female cheetah named Aasha has made two exploratory excursions to the east of KNP beyond the buffer zone but has remained within the broader Kuno landscape and has not ventured into human-dominated areas.
Another male, Pawan, explored areas well beyond the boundaries of the park on two occasions, venturing into farmland near the border with Uttar Pradesh during his second excursion. He was darted by the veterinary team and returned to an acclimatization camp in KNP.
The Ministry said cheetahs, like other large carnivores, are known to range widely during the initial few months after being reintroduced into unfamiliar open systems. “These movements are unpredictable and depend on many factors. After several months, the cheetahs should establish their own communication networks and settle down in relatively fixed home ranges.
“It is important that individual cheetahs do not become totally isolated from the reintroduced group during this phase as they will then not participate in breeding and will thus be genetically isolated,” it said. Their degree of isolation will be assessed once they settle down and appropriate action will be taken to enhance their connectivity to the group.
(Manas Dasgupta)