SA’s cheetahs destined for India ‘may be compromised’

After months of delay, the governments of India and South Africa have signed a controversial deal to send African cheetahs to India, 70 years after its Asiastic cheetah was declared extinct. 

But the six-month period the seven males and five females cheetahs have spent in quarantine in bomas has compromised the prospect for reintroduction success, said the project’s proponent, Vincent van der Merwe, a cheetah conservationist and manager of the Cheetah Metapopulation for the Metapopulation Initiative.

“The cheetahs have spent six months of their eight to 10-year lifespan in quarantine, waiting for government approvals for their relocation. The reproductive ability of the females would have been compromised as fertility is reduced if females only start breeding later in life or go through long periods without breeding,” he said, describing how this has the potential to compromise their successful establishment in India.