Neither ecologically sustainable nor moral, says research over translocation of African cheetahs to India

A file photograph of cheetahs at Kuno Nationwide Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district.
| Photograph Credit score: PTI

A brand new research by the Centre for Wildlife Research (CWS), which examines the moral, ecological and welfare challenges related to the translocation of African cheetahs to India, has expressed concern over the translocation of the animals and in addition raised questions on its scientific benefit and long-term viability.

The research, ‘Delineating the environmental justice implications of an experimental cheetah introduction mission in India’, was revealed in Frontiers in Conservation Science.

In accordance with CWS, the research highlights that the translocation of African cheetahs to India has resulted in important welfare challenges, with a mortality fee of 40%-50% within the first section of the mission, far beneath the anticipated survival fee of 85%.

20 launched to KNP

Below Undertaking Cheetah, to this point 20 African cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), eight from Namibia in September 2022 and 12 from South Africa in February 2023 had been launched into the Kuno Nationwide Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh.

CWS additionally mentioned that the cheetahs concerned within the mission have skilled excessive ranges of stress, with over 90 chemical immobilisations and common veterinary interventions, elevating considerations about their bodily and psychological well being.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav through the launch of feminine cheetahs ‘Dheera’ and ‘Asha’ and three cubs from a big enclosure into the open forest in Palpur-Kuno Nationwide Park on February 5, 2025.
| Photograph Credit score:
PTI

It additional mentioned that African cheetah populations are already below stress, with solely round 6,500 mature people remaining within the wild.

“With an preliminary mortality fee of 40%–50% in these cheetahs, at the moment all people are being saved in captivity in India, with plans to import 12 people yearly until a viable inhabitants is established. The researchers of this paper argue that the mission’s reliance on a steady provide of cheetahs from southern Africa, is neither ecologically sustainable nor moral,” it mentioned.

The research was led by Yashendu Chinmayee Joshi, Doctoral Fellow on the Centre for Wildlife Research, together with co-authors Stephanie E. Klarmann, Blood Lions Non Revenue Firm (NPC) and College of Johannesburg, South Africa; and Louise C. de Waal, Blood Lions Non Revenue Firm (NPC), South Africa.

Justice-informed method

The authors have urged {that a} extra justice-informed method would be certain that conservation choices are primarily based on inclusive, participatory processes, which have in mind the various values individuals place on nature.

“Our present method dangers overlooking numerous information methods and values, the nuanced methods through which individuals work together with nature, their perceptions of wildlife, and importantly, their consent to bear the results of such initiatives. Conservation efforts ought to focus extra on their means to take care of sustainable shared areas between people and wildlife, fairly than inflicting additional division and misery,” mentioned Mr. Joshi.