Hello, friends! 8 African Cheetahs were brought to India from
Namibia in September 2022. A few months later, in February 2023, 12 more
African cheetahs were brought to India, this time from South Africa. The return of these cheetahs was the beginning
of the nationwide Project Cheetah, which was being attempted since 2009. The only goal was to revive this extinct animal in India. The media was in a frenzy when these cheetahs
were brought to India a few months ago. But today, hardly anyone talks about the status of
this project. Because the truth is, out of these 20 imported
cheetahs, 6 have already died. What is the reason behind this? Will the Cheetah Project be successful? And is it even possible to revive extinct
animals in this way? Let's find out in today's video. "In other news, a group of 8 cheetahs
has been released into the wild in India." "We have never had African Cheetahs in India's history." "Today, on his 72nd birthday, Prime Minister Modi, gave a return gift to the nation." "Today, on his 72nd birthday, Prime Minister Modi, made it a special day for India." "The country is celebrating. People are talking about Modi and the cheetahs everywhere." Cheetah, which is the English name of this
animal, comes from a Sanskrit word, Chitraka, which means the spotted one. Someone who has spots or stains on them. Because the entire body of the cheetah is
covered with these black marks. Scientists believe that this animal has been
roaming on the earth for 8 million years. Once upon a time, these animals were found
in Africa and Asia in large numbers. This is the reason why in places like Bhopal and Gandhinagar, there are cave paintings which depict cheetahs, which are 10,000 years old. These tell us that once upon a time, cheetahs
used to live here too. But unfortunately, today, there are fewer than
8,000 cheetahs left in the world. The direct reason behind this is humans. Because of humans, directly or indirectly, the population of cheetahs has decreased rapidly in the last 100 years. Today, almost all of the surviving cheetahs are found
in Africa. In Asia, before September 2022, there were only 12 cheetahs. Not 12,000, not even 1,200, only 12. And all these 12 cheetahs were living in Iran. I am saying "were" because after September 2022, India also got 20 new cheetahs. Divyabhanusinh, who has been the Vice President
of Bombay Natural History Society, in his book, The End of Trail: The Cheetah in India,
tells us that at one time, Mughal Emperor Akbar, owned more than 1,000 cheetahs. And in his entire life, he had kept more than
9,000 cheetahs. Just think about how populous this animal
was in India at one time. Akbar's rule ended in 1605. And 300 years later, the Indian government
officially declared the cheetah extinct in 1952. What happened in these 300 years that the
cheetahs were completely extinct? The first reason is hunting. In the olden days, many kings used to hunt
cheetahs as a hobby. Between 1800 and 1950, about 127 cheetahs
were captured, killed, or photographed. Since 1800, it was done on a large scale. Killing animals and taking pictures with them
was considered an achievement in the British era. The Indian kings did this on such a large
scale that by the 1900s, many Indian kings started importing
cheetahs from Africa just to hunt them. Between 1918 and 1945, around 200 cheetahs
were brought to India so that the king could
hunt them and make a trophy. Interestingly, Divyabhanusinh says in his book that the British were not very interested
in hunting cheetahs. They were more interested in other animals. But sometimes, they would hunt cheetahs too. The last three cheetahs in India were hunted by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh
Deo in Madhya Pradesh in 1947. But hunting was not the only reason behind
the extinction. The second reason is known as Habitat Loss. As India started seeing the development of agriculture, people started expanding their farms. The grasslands for the cheetahs to live in
gradually became smaller. A cheetah needs about 100 square kilometres
of space to roam and live. So when there was no space left for them to
live, the population started to decrease. This led to their inbreeding which became another reason for extinction. In the year 1952, when the Indian government
declared cheetahs extinct, since then the topic of cheetah repopulation
has been discussed. The first mention of this was in our
first Wildlife Board meeting in Mysore. A few years later, in the 1970s, the idea of importing cheetahs from Iran was proposed. Experts said that India could give its Asiatic
lions to Iran in exchange. In those days, Iran had around 300 cheetahs. But this plan didn't work because in 1979, there was the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the king of Iran, the Shah of Iran was removed from power. Fast forward to 30 years later, in 2009, a new proposal was made to import cheetahs to India. This time from Africa. The Indian government conducts surveys in
7 different national parks and sanctuaries. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh. It was checked whether this plan would be
feasible or not. After the survey in 2010, Kuno National Park
in Madhya Pradesh is recommended. As a good place to reintroduce cheetahs. Two years later, in 2012, a road map to bring cheetahs from
Namibia to Kuno National Park was made. The Environment Ministry started finalizing this plan. But in April 2013, this process is stopped
by the Supreme Court of India. It is important to mention one thing here,
which I have not mentioned in the video yet. There are two different species of cheetah. African cheetah and Asiatic cheetah. There are many fundamental differences in
these two species. Asiatic cheetah is smaller in size, but its
neck is stronger. There are also some differences in the fur
colour of both. But the thing is, the cheetahs that were found in India, and the 12 cheetahs in Iran are Asiatic cheetahs. And the cheetahs in the African countries are the African cheetah species. This was the main reason behind the Supreme
Court stopping this project. The court also stated that the government had not discussed this proposal with
the National Board of Wildlife. And that importing exotic species was not
the best solution to bring back extinct animals. The Supreme Court said that it would be a better idea to introduce the Asiatic lions living in Gujarat
to Kuno National Park so that their population can increase. And anyway that species is already
used to living in this area of India. Here, I would like to take
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to change your job, sign up for free on Apna Jobs. Link is in the description. Now let's come back to the topic. But then we come to January 2020. The Supreme Court reverses its 7-year-old decision. Importing cheetahs was allowed on an
experimental basis. Dr. Yadvender Jhala, the Dean of the
Wildlife Institute of India and is also the lead scientist of the Cheetah Project, says that in the last few years, India has doubled
its tiger population. In 2018, we had nearly 3,000 tigers in India. So, we will be able to manage cheetahs well. Dr. Jhala once again recommended Kuno National
Park in Madhya Pradesh and finally in September 2022, India started the Cheetah project. It is said that along with Indian Oil Corporation,
the Indian government will spend around 900 million to 1 trillion rupees on this project in the next 5 years. And the government plans to import more than 50 cheetahs. Till now, 20 cheetahs have been imported, of which the first 8 were brought in a Boeing 747 from Namibia on the birthday of PM Modi, 17th September. "With these cheetahs, India's naturalist consciousness was awakened with full force." After landing in India, these cheetahs were
transported to Kuno by military helicopters and released there. Watch this video from then. "The Cheetahs were going to take their first steps on Indian land in over 70 years. The long wait for the world's fastest animal is finally over." According to the procedure, these cheetahs
were first kept in a 30-day quarantine in a soft enclosure. After that, they were shifted to a 5-6 km² large enclosure and later they were released
in the jungles of Kuno. A radio collar was also installed
to track and monitor all cheetahs. Interestingly, the enclosures where the cheetahs
were kept after the quarantine had a constant presence of leopards. And since these two animals
could not live happily with each other the wildlife workers had to catch the leopards
and put them in other areas. And people who managed accounts
and logistics were also put to do this task. Their job description did not mention this
anywhere. According to the article in The Scroll, the staff would get only 7-8 hours a day when they weren't working. And the drivers had to be available 24 hours to deal with such situations. On 18th February, 2023, 12 more cheetahs were
brought to India from South Africa. South Africa's cheetah expert
Vincent Van Der Merwe, who is also the manager of Cheetah
Meta Population Project in South Africa, says that the South African government took 7 months to approve the relocation of 12 cheetahs. And then after coming to India, our government kept them in quarantine for 2 months
instead of 1 month. Because of this, the condition of these cheetahs
deteriorated a lot in those 9 months. Next month, in March, we get to hear good news when a female cheetah from Namibia, Siaya, gave birth to four cubs. At this point in time, there were 24 cheetahs in India, including these four cubs. In Kuno National Park, two teams of 4 people
were made for each cheetah, which worked in 12-hour shifts to monitor and track these cheetahs. In these teams, there was a driver, a veterinarian, and some villagers from the nearby areas. They were trained to locate GPS signals from the radio collars on the cheetahs. Everything was going fine, but if we fast forward 6 months and come to today, it seems like 9 out of 24 cheetahs
have d!ed. What is the reason behind this? Let's look at it one by one. The latest death was on 3rd August, 2023, when 3-year-old Dhatri passed away. A few days before that, on 15th July, 3-year-old Suraj and on 11th July, 5-6 year old Tejas passed away. 3 cheetahs passed away in approximately 3 weeks. 3 of the 4 cubs who were born also
passed away. One on 23rd May and another on 25th May. The reason behind their deaths was said to be
dehydration and heat. Some forest officials say that the survival rate
of cheetah cubs is very low, around 10%. So, this is not something extraordinary. Though this is true, it is true for absolute wild areas. Survival rate in protected areas can
be up to 80%. And here, these cheetahs were
constantly tracked and monitored. "Another cheetah has d!ed in
the Kuno National Park this morning making it the 9th big cat death there in about 5 months." But even if we ignore these deaths by claiming that the survival rate of cubs is anyway not that high the point is that out of 9, 6 deaths were of adult cheetahs. The first death was on 28th March when 5-year-old Sasha passed away. The reason was said to be kidney failure. Wildlife Institute of India and
other government authorities said that Sasha had kidney problems since she was brought from Namibia. Because of this, many experts raised questions that if she already had kidney problems then
why was she brought to India? The second death was on 24th April,
of 6-year-old Uday. The reason behind this was heart failure. The third death was on 9th May, 3-year-old Daksha passed away. The Kuno officials said that this happened because two male cheetahs, Vayu and Agni, were attacking her. South African expert Van Der Merwe says that such aggressive behaviour by male cheetahs is not unusual. In South Africa, 8% of the cheetah
population is k!lled because they get involved in violent interactions. They get into fights with each other. This happens because cheetahs are not very
social animals. They like to live alone. And if there is a lack of space,
this aggressive behaviour is more prominent. So, one question will arise in your mind were all these deaths caused by only natural causes? It doesn't seem so. Look at this article from August 2023. Experts from South Africa and Nigeria presented their problems to the Indian Supreme Court. They say they have very serious concerns about
this project. They are not being informed about how
the cheetahs are being managed and they feel very helpless. The thing is, friends, that for any animal to survive, you need 4 things. Food, water, space, and shelter. If any of these four is missed, it can be a threat to survival. First of all, in terms of food, when Cheetahs were seen hunting
after being released from the quarantine, wildlife experts were very happy. But expert Van Der Merwe says that when they were in quarantine, they were not fed their required diet. Secondly, when it comes to water, Cheetahs did not lack water. So this aspect was right. But the biggest problems were in the space
and shelter category. The Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh
was actually the home of India's last surviving Asiatic lions. This national park was more suitable for those
animals that live in prides, like lions, than those animals that live alone, like cheetahs. Because cheetahs needed thousands of kilometres
of large areas to thrive. As I told you, typically a cheetah needs an
area of 100 sq km. Kuno National Park's size is only 750 sq km. This means that every 100 sq km,
housed 3 cheetahs here. This was iterated by 3 biologists from Namibia in April. Keeping cheetahs in such high densities is not normal. What happened due to the lack of this space is that these cheetahs were seen roaming outside
the National Park. Two cheetahs brought from Namibia,
Asha and Pawan were found outside the National Park several times when they were tracked. Pawan had to be brought back twice and the method to bring them back was to tranquillize them, make them unconscious and then transport them back. The second time Pawan went out of the National Park, the team decided to let him roam about and see if he would come back on his own or not. He was monitored for 15 days and finally, he was recaptured from the Uttar Pradesh border. Almost 150-200 km away from Kuno National Park. On this point, Van der Merwe says that it is normal for cheetahs to behave like this. If there is insufficient space, they will obviously
go out of the National Park. But he also says that they should be allowed
to roam around. This is their natural behaviour and cheetahs
are not a threat to humans. They might eat a few farm animals but cheetahs never attack humans. And this is the reason why it is possible
to touch this cheetah in Australian zoos. If you have watched my vlog, you would remember. They don't attack humans like lions and tigers. If you haven't watched the vlog, I will put
the link in the description below. Dr. Jhala says that a capacity of 21 cheetahs
was considered in Kuno because it provided them with the opportunity to breed. But it was suggested that these 21 cheetahs would be sent to
2 different locations for breeding so that they can get sufficient space. And the second location they recommended was Rajasthan's Mukundra Tiger Reserve. They said a very interesting line here. "We give suggestions based on technical feasibility. We do not look at politics." Here, this is hinting at the fact that in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan the government is formed by different political parties. To address this problem about the space, the Forest Department of Madhya Pradesh wrote a letter to the National Tiger Conservation. Asking to suggest alternative places where cheetahs could be sent so that they can get better space. But in June, the chairman of
the Cheetah Task Force, Rajesh Gopal, dismissed the claims of lack of space. He said that there was no plan to shift cheetahs out of Kuno. And said that people should have faith in
the government. The problem is that this is not only a problem with space, there is also a lack of the fourth point, shelter. African cheetahs are not so used to the Indian climate. On 15th July, Rajesh Gopal said that the death of the cheetah Suraj was due to septicaemia. This is a blood infection when due to a wound or injury, bacteria and germs spread through the body. And this problem was caused by
the radio collar on the cheetah. The radio collar of the cheetah was
repeatedly rubbing on the skin. Causing wounds that couldn't heal and got infected by maggots. Due to the wet and humid weather, this problem worsened. In fact, the death of the 7th cheetah, Tejas, was also caused by the exact same reasons. The autopsy revealed the same abrasions on the skin. Similar potential reasons are also being cited for Dhatri that she had the same symptoms on her neck. Van der Merwe also repeated the same point saying that India's extremely wet and humid climate and the way this radio collar was installed is responsible for this disease. Despite all these statements, our government's Ministry of Environment,
Forest, and Climate Change, has rejected the involvement of radio collars. Our government says that these deaths are
due to natural causes. But when you ask what are the natural causes, they are not explained in detail. The final point here is human-animal interactions. The government has assigned Cheetah Mitras
to ensure the safety of cheetahs. From every four member team that will be assigned to a cheetah, some of them will be villagers. Their job is to inform the villagers around
them about cheetahs. To tell people that cheetahs are not
a threat to humans. So, they needn't overreact if they see a
cheetah in a village. I think doing this is a good decision. But, there is a problem here as well. This should have been done earlier. It should have been done before September 2022. So that the villagers could have been
informed about it earlier. On 26th May, 2023, when a team from the
Forest Department was tracking Cheetah, the villagers started attacking the team of
Forest Department in Burakheda village. The villagers beat them up as if they were
dacoits. On the other hand, it is a very ironic, one of the Cheetah Mitra who has been employed, one of them is the infamous dacoit
Ramesh Singh Sikarwar. There are more than 90 cases of murder
and kidnapping against him. Now, he wears the baseball cap of Kuno National Park, and carries guns and ammunition belts to save cheetahs from hunters. He says that he has become a friend to cheetahs now. And that he won't let anyone hunt them. If anyone comes near them, he says that he will shoot them. It is very emotional to see their love for cheetahs. It is a very good thing. But it is also important to sensitize the
villagers living nearby. Some villages have erected stone boundaries
as per some reports. Villagers have been restricted from entering
the jungle. Overall, the government and government officials are showing signs of gross mismanagement in this project. Mismanagement in managing space and dealing with India's unsuitable climate. And this mismanagement is not limited to space
and unsuitable climate. You also saw how the drivers and accountants
were made to work on the ground in which they had no experience. This is also a sign of systemic mismanagement. But the problems don't stop here. It seems that there is no sign of cooperation
between the government departments. The project leaders say something, the government's ministry says something else. In October 2022, just a few weeks after the
start of this project, the lead scientist Dr Jhala was
excluded from the Cheetah Task Force. A zoologist from the Bangalore Centre for
Wildlife Studies, Ullas Karanth, says that the cheetahs will continue to d!e like this. And the government will continue to import new cheetahs because according to him, the purpose of
this project is not to bring back the cheetahs, rather the real purpose was to carry out a PR exercise. I believe that this project can still be made a success if all these problems are acted on immediately. But the question is, will the government take action? Only time will tell. The link to download Apna Jobs in the
description below. If you liked the video,
you will also like this other video where I have talked about the problem of stray dogs. Another big issue related to animals which can be seen in our cities. You can click here to watch. Thank you very much.
