Questions over SA’s role in sending cheetahs to India

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South Africa’s involvement in a controversial project to send an initial batch of 12 African cheetahs to India is fraught with problems, conservationists have warned.

Next month, the big cats from South Africa are expected to join eight cheetahs that were flown from Namibia to India earlier this month, more than 70 years after its Asiatic cheetah was declared extinct.

The Namibian cheetahs – five females and three males – were introduced to the Kuno National Park in Central India to celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.

The introduction of African cheetahs is being done under the auspices of Project Cheetah, which the Indian government has billed as “the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project”.

At the release of the Namibian cheetahs, Modi said the introduction of the cheetahs “will help restore open forest and grassland ecosystems”. This will help conserve biodiversity and enhance ecosystem services like water security, carbon sequestration and soil moisture conservation, benefiting society at large and wildlife conservation”. It will also lead to “enhanced livelihood opportunities for the local community through eco-development and ecotourism activities”.

Conservation experts in India and South Africa are opposed to moving the cheetahs to India and have strongly condemned it.

In July 2022, a request was made to the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment (DFFE) to supply India with 12 cheetahs “as part of their first reintroduction attempt”. 

The proposed relocation date for the shipment was due to coincide with India’s Independence Day in August. South Africa, however, has not yet signed off on the translocation. 

“The department cannot comment on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) and related processes at this stage,” said Albi Modise, the spokesperson for the department. Earlier this month, a team from the department visited Kuno National Park. 

Vincent van der Merwe, the manager of the Metapopulation Initiative, is working with the University of Pretoria, the Wildlife Institute of India and the National Tiger Conservation Authority on the project.