The word “cheetah” is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘chitraka’, meaning “speckled”. The Cheetah is the fastest land animal on earth. Probably it deserves a better name.


Asiatic and the African Cheetahs

There are two sub species of the Cheetah – the Asian and the African.
Once upon a time, the Asiatic Cheetah was quite common and roamed all the way from Arabia to Iran, Afghanistan and India. More than 10,000 Asiatic Cheetahs roamed the wilds of India during the 16th century. The Asiatic Cheetah was also known as the hunting leopard and kept by kings and princes to hunt gazelle. The Moghul Emperor Akbar is believed to have kept 1000 Cheetahs.

Hunting of Blackbuck with Cheetah

Decimation of the Asiatic Cheetah in India

At the turn of the 20th century, there were thousands of Asiatic Cheetahs in India. But they were indiscriminately hunted. Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya, Surguja. Madhya Pradesh, Central India shot dead 3 cheetahs in 1947 finishing off the last wild Cheetah in India.

The above photograph shows Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya, Surguja. Madhya Pradesh, Central India with the 3 dead cheetahs shot by him in 1947 finishing off the wild Cheetahs in India.

Today an estimated 7,000 African Cheetahs remain in the wild – almost all of them in Africa.

After that, few Cheetahs remained in different zoos of India. But all of them died.
Since then, 35 cheetahs have been brought to India in 6 different zoos – Hyderabad, Delhi, Kanpur, Calcutta, Trivandrum and Mysore. All of them died due to lack of proper care and diseases. They did not breed in captivity.
The official announcement of the Asiatic Cheetah going extinct from India was made in 1952.

Today, only 75 to 100 Asiatic Cheetahs remain in the wild. They are confined to Iran’s Kavir desert – with a few being sighted in south-west Pakistan. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals has listed the Asiatic Cheetah as ‘critically endangered’.

In the 1970s, the Government of India approached Iran for a pair of Cheetahs. Iran agreed to give a pair in exchange of a pair of wild lions from the Gir Sanctuary. But Gujarat refused to give the two lions.

Numibian Cheetahs arrive from Singapore

The Sakkarbaug Zoo, Junagarh, Gujarat which was opened in 1863 extends over 200-hectares (490-acres). It provides captive breeding of purebred Asiatic lions. The last Asiatic Cheetah in India died in 1945 in this Zoo, during the time of the Nawab. In 2006, Singapore Zoo made a proposal to gift 4 African Cheetahs in exchange of 3 Asiatic lions from Sakkarbaug Zoo. This was approved by the Central Zoo Authority of India in August that year.

Two pairs of Cheetahs were brought from Singapore Zoo and accommodated at the Sakkarbaug Zoo on 24 March 2009, after a public function presided over by Sri Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat. The pairs failed to mate and all four Cheetahs died within two years.

The UPA Government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh established the Project Cheetah in 2008-09 to revive its population in India by bringing in African Cheetahs. Site surveys were conducted by global experts and government experts. The Government of India then approached Namibia. Namibia agreed to give a pair of Cheetahs to India. The matter went up to the Supreme Court and the translocation was delayed.

In 2020, the National Tiger Conservation Authority approached the Supreme Court with a plea for the experimental introduction of African Cheetahs in India in a carefully chosen habitat. The Court relented, but appointed an expert committee to decide on the location, etc.

In January 2020, the Supreme Court approved the translocation of Cheetahs. The Government of India decided to relocate them in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

8 Numibian Cheetahs arrive in Kuno National Park

Eight Cheetahs – five female and three male – were flown in from Numibia to Gwalior by a chartered flight on 17 September 2022, on the 72nd birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He released the eight Cheetahs in the Kuno National Park.
The Kuno National Park which had waited over twenty years to provide to provide an alternate home to the endangered Asiatic Lion became the new home of the Numibian Cheetahs.

12 more Cheetahs arrive from South Africa

On 18 February 2023, an Indian Air Force plane flew in 12 African Cheetahs – seven males and five females – from South Africa. They were released into the quarantine enclosures at the Kuno National Park.

Future

Of the 20 Cheetahs in Kuno National Park, three have died and four have been born taking the total tally to 21.

We have not re-introduced the Asiatic Cheetah. Experts caution that the African Cheetah is a different sub- species from the Asiatic Cheetah.

According to researchers the introduction of African Cheetahs in India has been done without considering their spatial ecology. They warn that the released animals may come into conflict with people in the neighbouring villages.

Scientists of the Cheetah Research Project of Leibniz-IZW in Namibia argue that in southern Africa, Cheetahs live in a stable socio-spatial system with widely spread territories and densities of less than one individual per 100 square kilometers. This quantifies into a capacity of around 36 Cheetahs in Kuno National Park.

The Supreme Court has recently asked the Government of India to consider the introduction of newly-introduced Cheetahs in other locations and not be confined to a single place. It is never wise to put all the eggs in one basket.




( 930 words)

Reintroduction of the Cheetah in India