Cheetahs died of natural causes, not due to Kuno’s unsuitability: Centre to SC

The death of five adult cheetahs translocated from Africa to India and three cubs occurred due to natural causes and not on account of any “inherent unsuitability” of the Kuno National Park site, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday, ruling out at present the possibility of shifting the 15 surviving cheetahs and a lone cub to an alternate habitat.

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In a response filed ahead of the hearing of the case in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the Centre said that according to the action plan on cheetahs, alternate sites are being prepared for introduction of the animals, but it depends on the continued availability of cheetahs from African countries for sourcing, besides other factors such as prey base and protection mechanism on the ground.

Going by the “general scientific awareness” of survival of cheetahs in the wild, the Centre said these carnivores have low survival rate of about 50% in adults even in “non-introduced population”. In the event of being introduced in a habitat, this rate gets “even much lower” which may lead to about 10% survival in cubs, the affidavit said, adding, “Mortalities, though troubling, and in need of redressal and curtailment, are not unduly alarming.”

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Mentioning the analysis of cheetah carcasses, the Centre in its response said, “Provisional diagnosis of mortality events point towards natural causes and none of the cheetahs have died due to unnatural reasons such as poaching, snaring, poisoning, road hits, electrocution, etc.”

Eight cheetahs, five adults and three cubs, have died ever since KNP received 20 cheetahs – eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa – in two tranches, as part of the country’s first inter-continental translocation project, starting September 17.