Three sites recommended for reintroduction of cheetahs

The Wildlife Institute of Inda and the Wildlife Trust of India have recommended three sites for the reintroduction of the cheetah in India - the Kuno-Palpur and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh and the Shahgarh Landscape in Rajasthan.

"Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognised as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions," Dr Y V Jhala, Senior Scientist, Wildlife Institute of India, said here yesterday while submitting the feasibility report on reintroducing the animal in the country.

"The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times. India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons. With this context, a consultative meeting of global experts was held at Gajner in September, 2009. A consensus was reached at this meeting for conducting a detailed survey in selected sites to explore the potential of reintroducing the cheetah in India," he said.

The report said all the three sites required preparation and resource investments to commence the introductin programme. Long-term commitment of political will, resources and personnel were required from the Central and State Governments to implement the project successfully, it said.

Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, who received the report, said it was important to bring the cheetah back to the country.

"The cheetah will restore grasslands of India which will be followed by restoration of many other endangered animals. The way the tiger restores the forest ecosystem, the snow leopard restores the mountain ecosystem, the Gangetic dolphin restores waters in the rivers, the same way the cheetah will resore grasslands of the country," he said.

According to an official press release, cheetahs will be obtained from the Middle East where North African Cheetahs are bred, Iran, Namibia and South Africa. Initially, 18 cheetahs will be brought to three proposed sites.

The report says 10 sites were assessed from seven landscapes located in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for their potential to harbour viable reintroduced cheetah populations. Field surveys were carried out to collect data on prey abundances, local community dependencies on forest resources and their attitudes towards wildlife, and use remotely sensed data to assess habitat size. The current and potential carrying capacity of the sites to support cheetah have been computed. The team has assessed the long-term viability of the introduced population, using Population Habitat Viability Analysis, the release said.

The report says that, amongst the seven surveyed landscapes, the landscape that contained Sanjay National Park, Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary and Guru Ghasidas National Park was the largest, covering over 12,500 sq. km . It is in this landscape that the cheetah continued to survive till after India’s Independence. However, today this landscape is characterised by low prey densities, probably due to poaching by tribal communities that reside within the protected areas.

The three protected areas were currently estimated to have the capacity to support about 14 cheetah. With restorative and managerial inputs under the Project Tiger scheme available for Sanjay National Park and Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary, these protected areas are likely to improve and could potentially support over 30 cheetah, while the landscape could hold upto 60 individuals

The report recommended that Guru Ghasidas National Park in Chhattisgarh also be considered under the Project Tiger scheme as it is well connected with Sanjay National Park and Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary. It suggested that this landscape be restored and re-evaluated before considering cheetah reintroduction there in the future.

Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary is a part of the Sheopur-Shivpriti forested landscape, which had the second largest area (6,800 sq km) amongst the surveyed sites. This site was rated high for the reintroduction of the cheetah, because a lot of restorative investment has already been made here for introducing the Asiatic lions.

The protected area was estimated to have a current capacity to sustain 27 cheetah, which could be enhanced to over 32 individuals by addition of some more forested areas (120 sq km) to the Kuno Sanctuary.

The Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary (1197 sq km) in Madhya Pradesh is part of a forested landscape of 5,500 sq km. Cheetah prey densities were reasonable in this area and the site was considered favourable to be considered for a reintroduction. Based on current prey densities the area could support 25 cheetah, the report said.

It recommended the designation of 750 sq km as a core area of the sanctuary and relocation of about 23 human settlements from the core with generous and adequate compensation.

"Our assessment indicates that the local communities would prefer to relocate for better livelihood and modern facilities. The site could then support over 50 cheetah as a source population, while the Nauradehi landscape could harbour over 70 individuals," it said.

The Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh and the Bagdara Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh form a continuous habitat. However, potential cheetah habitat in this area was small ( less than 500 sq km) , as much of the land is under agriculture. Though the prey densities were reasonably high due to good management and law enforcement, the site was not considered further due to its small size and it was likely to have a high level of conflict with an introduced cheetah population, the report said.

The Shahgarh landscape on the international border in Jaislmer district of Rajasthan was found to be suitable for introducing cheetah.

"As the area is fenced along the international border, we propose to additionally fence off the bulge area by constructing another 140 km long chain-link fence, so as to encompass about 4000 sq km of xerophytic habitat. Within this area about 80 seasonally used human settlements, each having 5-10 households, would need to be relocated with adequate and generous compensation and alternate arrangements provided. Though the prey species diversity was less (primarily chinkara) in Shahgarh, the area could currently support about 15 cheetah and had the potential to sustain 40 cheetah with habitat management within the large fanced ecosystem," it said.

According to the report, the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, was reasonably large (3162 sq km) with a fairly good prey availability. However, the area is heavily grazed by livestock and is the last stronghold for the Great Indian Bustard. The introduced cheetah are likely to come into severe conflict with local communities and may be a potential threat to the endangered Great Indian Bustard. For this reason the Desert National Park was not considered ideal for cheetah reintroduction.

It said the Banni grasslands and Kachchh Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat cover a vast arid landscape of which over 5800 sq km could be considered as potential cheetah habitat. The wild prey abundance was extremely low with no current potential for considering introduction of a large carnivore. However, the area has potential and with restoration, livestock grazing management and law enforcement the area could bounce back and could potentially support over 50 cheetah. If the Gujarat Government takes serious steps to restore this landscape, than the site could be re-evaluated at a later date, it said.

The report said the reintroduction of the cheetah would greatly enhance tourism prospects and benefit the local communities.

"The venture must be viewed not simply as an introduction of a species, however charismatic it may be, but as an endeavour to better manage and restore some of our most valuable yet most neglected ecosystems and the species dependent upon them," the report added.

NNN