The cheetah is the fastest animal on land.  Wild cheetah populations in Africa are under threat due to conflict with humans, loss of their habitat and associated prey, hunting and the trafficking from Africa to feed illegal demand for exotic pets in the Middle East.

There are an estimated 6517 cheetahs in the world.  Their populations are extremely fragmented and confined to around 9% of their historical range. Most cheetah live on unprotected land and face multiple threats.

On the 16th of February 2023 environmental lawyers, Cullinan and Associates, acting on behalf of the EMS Foundation sent an urgent communication to the South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy. The communication raised concern about the proposed project to remove 120 wild cheetah over a 10 year period from South Africa and export them to India. We reiterated our concern, stating that an unacceptable number of cheetah are likely to die through the process of extended quarantine and relocation to an unfenced national park.

The letter preceded the departure of the first 12 cheetah who were destined to leave South Africa on the 17th of February 2023. We requested that the project be halted until the risk - especially the risks to the survival of the cheetah populations in South Africa - could be properly and independently established, and until a proper process of public participation had taken place. 

In response, according to a statement made by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, on the 17th of February 2022, 12 South African cheetah departed from South Africa as part of an initiative to expand the cheetah meta population and to reintroduce cheetahs to India, following their extinction in India due to over hunting and loss of habitat in the last century.

Earlier this year the governments of South Africa and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on the Reintroduction of Cheetah to India. The MoU facilitates cooperation between the two countries. 

Our worst fears were realised when, two months later, on the 24th of April 2022, it was reported that a South African cheetah, 1 of the 12 exported to the Kuno National Park in the central state of Madhya Pradesh in India, had died.

This tragic death follows the death of a Namibian cheetah exported to India in September 2022 to the Kuno National Park as part of the same plan to reintroduce the species to India.  The death of the Namibian cheetah was announced on Monday the 27th of March 2023. 

Of further concern are reports from India suggesting that some of the cheetah have also escaped from the unfenced Kuno National Park on more than one occasion.  The escaped cheetah were tranquillised and returned to the national park.

On Tuesday 9th May 2023 a second South African  cheetah named Daksha died. Indian and South African wildlife experts held a meeting on 30th April where it was decided to let Daksha meet the two males named Agni and Vayu and a day later the gate between their enclosure was opened. The male cheetah entered the female cheetah on the 6th May. On Tuesday she was found injured she was treated by vets but she died of her injuries. 

On the 14th of July 2023 it was reported that eight cheetah have died in the Kuno National Park.  Experts are now saying that India does not have the habitat or prey species for African cheetahs and that this project may not fulfil its aim of grassland conservation. 

 

We therefore demand that:

1. the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on the Reintroduction of Cheetah to India, between South Africa and India, be suspended and;
2. a moratorium be placed on the South African government from exporting any and all cheetah from the country.

Image Credit: EMS Foundation

©EMS Foundation 2023. All Rights Reserved.

 

https://emsfoundation.org.za/concern-about-the-south-african-cheetah-relocation-to-india-project/