Project Cheetah | Is it an Impossible Mission? | Dhruv Rathee
A remarkable initiative, 'Project Cheetah', took off in 2022 with a goal to bring back extinct cheetah population. They brought in twenty cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa, which sparked debates worldwide. A glimmer of hope shone when 'Siyaya', a cheetah, gave birth to four cubs in March. Sadly, things took a downturn as nine cheetahs passed away, raising serious concerns. Join Dhruv Rathee in this video as he unravels the mystery behind these deaths and explores the uncertain future of the project.
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00:00Hello, friends.
00:01In September 2022, 8 African cheetahs are brought to India from Namibia.
00:06A few months later, in February 2023,
00:0812 more African cheetahs are brought to India.
00:12This time, from South Africa.
00:15The return of these cheetahs was the beginning of a nationwide project, Cheetah.
00:20This project had been going on since 2009.
00:22The only goal was to revive this extinct animal in India.
00:28The media went berserk when these cheetahs were brought to India a few months ago.
00:36But today, no one talks about the status of this project.
00:40Because the truth is, out of these 20 imported cheetahs, 6 have already died.
00:45What is the reason behind this?
00:47Will the Cheetah project be successful?
00:50And is it possible to revive extinct animals like this?
00:54Let's find out in today's video.
00:58A group of 8 cheetahs has been released into the wild in India.
01:01We have never had African cheetahs in India's history.
01:05Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a return gift to the country on his birthday.
01:10Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his 72nd birthday very special for India.
01:15There is a festive atmosphere in the country.
01:17There are only cheetahs and Modi's noise all around.
01:22Cheetah, which is the English name of this animal, comes from a Sanskrit word, Chitraka.
01:29Which means, the spotted one.
01:31Someone who has scars or bruises.
01:33Because the entire body of the cheetah is filled with these black marks.
01:36Scientists believe that these animals have been roaming the earth for 80 lakh years.
01:42Once upon a time, they were found in Africa and Asia in large numbers.
01:46This is why in places like Bhopal and Gandhinagar,
01:49paintings have been found in caves that depict cheetahs.
01:52Which are 10,000 years old.
01:54This tells us that cheetahs used to live here once upon a time.
01:58But unfortunately, today, there are less than 8,000 cheetahs left in the world.
02:03The direct reason behind this is humans.
02:05Because of humans, directly or indirectly, the population of cheetahs has decreased rapidly in the last 100 years.
02:11Today, almost all the surviving cheetahs are found in Africa.
02:17In Asia, before September 2022, the population of cheetahs was only 12.
02:22Not 12,000, not even 1,200.
02:24Only 12.
02:25And all these 12 cheetahs were found in Iran.
02:28They were there because after September 2022, India also had 20 new cheetahs.
02:34Divya Bhanu Singh, who has been the Vice President of the Bombay Natural History Society,
02:38in her book, The End of Trail the Cheetah in India,
02:41tells us that once upon a time, the Mughal Emperor Akbar owned more than 1,000 cheetahs.
02:47And in his entire life, he had raised more than 9,000 cheetahs.
02:52Just think about how many cheetahs were found in India at one time.
02:56Akbar's rule ends in 1605.
02:59And almost 300 years later, the Indian government officially declares cheetahs extinct.
03:05In the year 1952.
03:07What happened in these 300 years that cheetahs were completely extinct from the country?
03:12The first reason is hunting.
03:14Many kings and emperors used to hunt cheetahs as a hobby in the olden days.
03:19Between 1800 and 1950, about 127 cheetahs were captured, killed or photographed.
03:26Since the year 1800, it was done on a large scale.
03:30Killing animals and taking photos with them was considered an achievement in the British era.
03:36The Indian kings and emperors did this on such a large scale that by the 1900s,
03:41many Indian kings started importing cheetahs from Africa,
03:46so that they could only hunt them.
03:48Between 1918 and 1945, about 200 cheetahs were brought to India,
03:52so that the king could kill them and make a trophy out of them.
03:55Interestingly, Divya Bhanu Singh says in her book that
03:58the British were not that interested in hunting cheetahs.
04:01They were more interested in other animals.
04:04But sometimes, cheetahs were killed by them as well.
04:07The last three cheetahs killed in India were killed by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo in Madhya Pradesh in 1947.
04:15But hunting was not the only reason behind the extinction.
04:18The second reason is known as Habitat Loss.
04:20As the development of agriculture was seen in India,
04:23people started spreading their farms.
04:26The grasslands for the cheetahs to live in were getting smaller and smaller.
04:29A cheetah needs about 100 square kilometers of space to roam and live.
04:33When there was no space left for them to live, the population started decreasing.
04:37They were forced to see inbreeding, which became another reason for the extinction.
04:42In 1952, when the Indian government declared cheetahs extinct,
04:46the topic of repopulation started being discussed.
04:49The first mention of this was made in our first wildlife board meeting in Mysore.
04:54A few years later, in the 1970s, the idea of importing cheetahs from Iran was proposed.
05:00Experts said that India could give its Asiatic lions to Iran in exchange.
05:05In those days, Iran had about 300 cheetahs.
05:08But this plan didn't work because in 1979,
05:11the Islamic Revolution was seen in Iran and the king of Iran, Shah of Iran, was removed from power.
05:18Fast forward to about 30 years later.
05:21In 2009, a new proposal was made to import cheetahs from India.
05:26This time, from Africa.
05:28The Indian government conducted a survey in 7 different national parks and sanctuaries.
05:32Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh.
05:35It was seen whether this plan could be feasible or not.
05:38After conducting the survey in 2010, the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh was recommended.
05:44This would be a good place to reintroduce cheetahs.
05:47Two years later, in 2012, a roadmap was made to import cheetahs from Namibia to the Kuno National Park.
05:53The Environment Ministry started finalising the plan.
05:56But in April 2013, this process was stopped by the Supreme Court of India.
06:02It's important to mention one thing here that I haven't mentioned in the video yet.
06:05There are actually two different species of cheetahs.
06:09African cheetah and Asiatic cheetah.
06:11There are many fundamental differences in these two species.
06:14For example, the Asiatic cheetah is smaller in size.
06:17But its neck is stronger.
06:19There are some differences in the fur colour too.
06:21But the thing is, the cheetahs that were found in India,
06:24and the 12 cheetahs that are found in Iran today,
06:27are the Asiatic cheetahs.
06:28And the rest of the cheetahs found in African countries,
06:31are the cheetahs of the African species.
06:33This was a major reason behind the Supreme Court's stoppage of this project.
06:36The court also said that the government has not discussed this proposal with the National Board of Wildlife.
06:42Importing an exotic species in this way,
06:45to bring back extinct animals,
06:47is not an appropriate solution.
06:49The Supreme Court said that a better idea would be
06:51to introduce the Asiatic lions that live in Gujarat
06:53in the Kuno National Park.
06:55So that their population can increase.
06:57And that species is already used to living in this area of India.
07:01But then we come to January 2020.
07:03The Supreme Court reverses its 7-year-old decision.
07:08Importing cheetahs is allowed on an experimental basis.
07:12Dr. Yadvinder Jhala,
07:14who is the Dean of the Wildlife Institute of India,
07:16and is also the lead scientist of the Cheetah Project,
07:19says that in the last few years,
07:21India has doubled its tiger population.
07:23In 2018, nearly 3,000 tigers are seen in India.
07:28So we will be able to manage the cheetahs as well.
07:30Dr. Jhala once again recommended the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
07:34And finally, in September 2022,
07:37India started this Cheetah Project.
07:40It is said that along with the Indian Oil Corporation,
07:42the Indian government will spend around Rs. 90-100 crores
07:46on this project in the next five years.
07:48And the government plans to import more than 50 cheetahs in total.
07:53So far, 20 cheetahs have been imported in total.
07:56Of which, the first 8 were brought from Namibia
07:58in a Boeing 747 plane.
08:01On Prime Minister Modi's birthday,
08:03on 17th September.
08:05Along with these cheetahs,
08:07India's nature-loving consciousness
08:09has also awakened to its full potential.
08:12After landing in India,
08:13these cheetahs are transported in Kuno by a military helicopter
08:17and released.
08:19Watch this video of that time.
08:21Cheetahs were going to take their first steps
08:24on Indian land in over 70 years.
08:27The long wait for the world's fastest animal
08:30was finally over.
08:32According to the procedure,
08:33these cheetahs were first kept in a 30-day quarantine
08:36in a soft enclosure.
08:38After that, they were shifted to a 5-6 sq. km enclosure.
08:41And later, they were released in the Kuno jungles.
08:44To track and monitor all the cheetahs,
08:47a radio collar was also installed on them.
08:49Interestingly, after the quarantine,
08:51the enclosures where the cheetahs were kept,
08:53the leopards also kept coming and going.
08:55And because these two animals can't live happily with each other,
08:59the wildlife workers had to catch the leopards
09:01and put them in other areas.
09:03And the people who managed the accounts and logistics
09:06were also assigned to this work.
09:07Their jobs were not mentioned anywhere in the description.
09:10According to the article written in The Scroll,
09:12the staff was given only 7-8 hours a day
09:15where they were not allowed to work.
09:17And the drivers had to be available 24 hours
09:19to deal with such situations.
09:21On 18th February, 2023,
09:2312 more cheetahs were brought from South Africa to India.
09:27The cheetah expert of South Africa,
09:29Vincent van der Merff,
09:31who is also the manager of the Cheetah Metapopulation Project of South Africa,
09:34says that the South African government
09:36took 7 months to approve the relocation of these 12 cheetahs.
09:41And after coming to India,
09:43our government kept them in quarantine for 2 months instead of 1 month.
09:46Because of this, in these 9 months,
09:48the condition of these cheetahs worsened.
09:51Next month, in March, we get to hear a good news
09:53when a female cheetah from Namibia,
09:55Siaya, gave birth to 4 children.
09:58At this point of time, there were 24 cheetahs in India,
10:00including these 4 children.
10:02In Kuno National Park,
10:042 teams of 4 people were made for each cheetah,
10:06which worked in 12-hour shifts
10:09to monitor and track these cheetahs.
10:11In these teams, a driver, a veterinarian,
10:13and some villagers were present.
10:16They were trained to detect GPS signals
10:19from the radio callers on the cheetahs.
10:21Everything was going well.
10:23But if we fast-forward 6 months to today,
10:269 out of these 24 cheetahs are killed.
10:31What is the reason behind this?
10:33Let's see one by one.
10:35The latest death is on 3rd August, 2023
10:37when 3-year-old Dhatri died.
10:39A few days before this, on 15th July,
10:413-year-old Suraj and on 11th July,
10:435-6-year-old Tejas also died.
10:46In about 3 weeks, 3 cheetahs were killed.
10:48Out of the 4 children who were born,
10:503 were killed.
10:521 on 23rd May and 2 on 25th May.
10:55The reason behind their deaths is
10:57dehydration and heat.
10:59Some forest officials say that
11:01the survival rate of cheetahs is low,
11:03around 10%.
11:05This is not an extraordinary thing.
11:07This is true for absolute wild areas.
11:10In protected areas,
11:12the survival rate can reach up to 80%.
11:14Here, these cheetahs were constantly
11:16tracked and monitored.
11:18Another cheetah has died
11:20in the Kuno National Park this morning.
11:22Making it the 9th big cat death there
11:24in about 5 months.
11:26But even if we ignore these deaths,
11:28the survival rate of children is not high.
11:30The point is that
11:326 out of 9 deaths are of adult cheetahs.
11:35The first death was on 28th March,
11:38when 5-year-old Sasha died.
11:41The reason behind this is kidney failure.
11:43Wildlife Institute of India and
11:45other government authorities said that
11:47Sasha had kidney problems
11:49since she was brought from Namibia.
11:51Because of this, many experts questioned
11:53why she was brought to India
11:55if she already had kidney problems.
11:57The second death was on 24th April,
11:59when 6-year-old Uday died.
12:01The reason behind this is heart failure.
12:03The third death was on 9th May,
12:05when 3-year-old Daksha died.
12:07Kuno officials said that this happened
12:09because two male cheetahs,
12:11Vayu and Agni, were attacking her.
12:13South African expert Van Der Merf says
12:15that male cheetahs' aggressive behaviour
12:17is not unusual.
12:19In South Africa,
12:218% of cheetahs are killed
12:23because of violent interactions.
12:25They fight with each other.
12:27This happens because cheetahs
12:29are not social animals.
12:31They like to be alone.
12:33If there is a lack of space,
12:35this aggressive behaviour is more visible.
12:37So one question will arise in your mind
12:39that are these deaths
12:41due to natural causes?
12:43It doesn't seem so.
12:45South African and Nigerian experts
12:47have put their problems
12:49before the Indian Supreme Court.
12:51They say that they have very serious
12:53concerns about this project.
12:55They are not being told
12:57how cheetahs are being managed
12:59and they feel helpless.
13:01To survive any animal,
13:03you need 4 things.
13:05Food, water, space and shelter.
13:07If any of these 4 things
13:09go wrong, it can be dangerous
13:11for survival.
13:13If we talk about food,
13:15when cheetahs were taken out of quarantine
13:17for hunting, wildlife experts
13:19were very happy.
13:21But expert Van Der Merff says
13:23that when they were in quarantine,
13:25they were not fed their required diet.
13:27Secondly, if we talk about water,
13:29cheetahs didn't lack water.
13:31So this aspect was right.
13:33But the biggest problems
13:35come in the category of space and shelter.
13:37Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh
13:39was actually the home of India's
13:41Thriving Asiatic Lions.
13:43This National Park was more suitable
13:45for those animals that live in prides
13:47like lions.
13:49Not those animals that live alone like cheetahs.
13:51Because cheetahs needed thousands of kilometers
13:53of area to thrive.
13:55I told you that typically,
13:57a cheetah needs an area of 100 square kilometers.
13:59Kuno National Park's size
14:01is only 750 square kilometers
14:03in itself.
14:05This means that every 100 square kilometers,
14:073 cheetahs were kept here.
14:09In the month of April,
14:113 biologists from Namibia also said that
14:13keeping cheetahs in such high densities
14:15is no longer normal.
14:17What happened due to this lack of space
14:19was that these cheetahs were often seen
14:21roaming outside the National Park.
14:23Two cheetahs brought from Namibia,
14:25Asha and Pawan,
14:27were found outside the National Park
14:29when they were tracked.
14:31Pawan had to be brought back twice.
14:33And the way to bring them back is
14:35that they are tranquilized,
14:37The second time when Pawan came out
14:39of his National Park,
14:41the team decided to let him roam.
14:43Let's see if he comes back or not.
14:45He was monitored for 15 days.
14:47And finally, he was recaptured
14:49from the border of Uttar Pradesh.
14:51Almost 150-200 kilometers away
14:53from Kuno National Park.
14:55To this point, Vander Merv says
14:57that it is very normal for a cheetah
14:59to behave like this.
15:01If there is no space,
15:03then obviously, they will go out of the National Park.
15:05This is their natural behaviour
15:07and cheetahs are not a threat to humans.
15:09They will kill a few animals
15:11of the farmers and eat them.
15:13But cheetahs never attack humans.
15:15And this is why it is possible to touch
15:17this cheetah in the zoos of Australia.
15:19If you have seen my vlog, then you remember.
15:21Like lions and tigers,
15:23they don't attack humans.
15:25If you haven't seen this vlog,
15:27then I'll put the link in the description below.
15:29Dr Jhala says that 21 cheetahs
15:31were considered in Kuno
15:33for breeding.
15:35But it was suggested that these 21 cheetahs
15:37should be sent to two different locations
15:39for breeding.
15:41So that they get sufficient space.
15:43And the second location he recommended
15:45was Rajasthan's Mukundra Tiger Reserve.
15:47He said a very interesting line here.
15:49We give suggestions based on technical feasibility.
15:51We do not look at politics.
15:53Here he is pointing out that
15:55in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan,
15:57there are governments of two different political parties.
15:59To address the problem of space,
16:01the forest department of Madhya Pradesh
16:03wrote a letter to the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
16:05Suggesting alternative locations
16:07where cheetahs can be sent.
16:09So that they get better space.
16:11But in the month of June,
16:13the chairman of the Cheetah Task Force,
16:15Rajesh Gopal dismissed the claims of lack of space.
16:17He said that there is no plan
16:19to shift cheetahs out of Kuno.
16:21And said that people
16:23should have faith in the government.
16:25The problem is that there is not only a problem of space.
16:27The fourth point.
16:29There is also a lack of shelter.
16:31African cheetahs are not so used to the Indian climate.
16:33On 15th July,
16:35Rajesh Gopal said that
16:37the death of a cheetah was due to septicemia.
16:39This is a blood infection.
16:41When due to an injury,
16:43bacteria and germs spread throughout the body.
16:45And this problem happened
16:47due to the radio collar on the cheetah.
16:49The radio collar on the cheetah
16:51was repeatedly being rubbed with skin.
16:53There were wounds and maggots.
16:55And due to the wet and humid weather there,
16:57this problem worsened.
16:59In fact, the seventh cheetah
17:01Tejas,
17:03the exact same reasons were told.
17:05The autopsy revealed that the same abrasions
17:07were on the skin.
17:09Similar potential reasons are also being told for Thatri.
17:11The same symptoms were seen on his neck.
17:13Van Der Merff also repeated the same point.
17:15Saying that
17:17India's extremely wet and humid climate
17:19and the way the radio collar
17:21was installed
17:23is responsible for this disease.
17:25Despite all these statements,
17:27the Ministry of Environment,
17:29Forest and Climate Change
17:31has rejected the involvement of radio collars.
17:33Our government says
17:35that these deaths are due to natural causes.
17:37But when asked what the natural causes are,
17:39it is not explained in detail.
17:41The final point here is
17:43human-animal interactions.
17:45To ensure the safety of cheetahs,
17:47the government has assigned Cheetah Mitras.
17:49Every four-member team
17:51that will be assigned to a cheetah,
17:53including a few villagers,
17:55will inform the nearby villagers
17:57about the cheetahs.
17:59Cheetahs are not a threat to humans.
18:01So don't overreact
18:03if you see a cheetah in a village.
18:05In my opinion,
18:07doing this is a very good thing.
18:09But the problem here is that
18:11this should have been done earlier.
18:13It should have been done before September 2022
18:15so that the villagers already
18:17had information about it.
18:19On 26th May 2023,
18:21a team from the Forest Department was on a hunt.
18:23The villagers started attacking
18:25the team from the Forest Department
18:27in Bura Kheda village.
18:29The villagers beat them up
18:31as if they were dacoits.
18:33On the other hand,
18:35a Cheetah Mitra has been employed.
18:37One of them is the infamous dacoit
18:39Ramesh Singh Sikarwar.
18:41He has more than 90 cases of murder and kidnapping.
18:43Now, he wears a baseball cap from Kuno National Park.
18:45He is armed with a gun and ammunition belt.
18:47To save the cheetahs
18:49from the hunters.
18:51He says,
18:53now I have become a Cheetah Mitra.
18:55I will not let them hunt.
18:57If anyone comes near them,
18:59I will shoot them.
19:01It is very emotional to see
19:03these Mitras' love for cheetahs.
19:05It is a very good thing.
19:07But it is also important to sensitize
19:09the villagers living nearby.
19:11According to some reports,
19:13stone boundaries have been made in some villages.
19:15The villagers have been restricted
19:17due to heavy mismanagement
19:19by the government officials.
19:21Mismanagement in managing space
19:23and dealing with India's unsuitable climate.
19:25And this mismanagement is not limited
19:27to space and unsuitable climate.
19:29You have also seen how
19:31on-ground work was done by drivers and accountants
19:33who were not experienced in that work.
19:35This is also a sign of systemic mismanagement.
19:37But the problems do not stop here.
19:39It seems that there is no sign of cooperation
19:41between the government departments.
19:43The project leaders say something.
19:45The government's ministry says something.
19:47In October 2022,
19:49a few weeks after the start of this project,
19:51the lead scientist Dr. Jhala
19:53was excluded from the Cheetah Task Force.
19:55The zoologist working at the
19:57Bangalore Centre for Wildlife Studies,
19:59Ullas Karanth, says that
20:01these cheetahs will continue to die like this.
20:03And the government will continue
20:05to import new cheetahs.
20:07Because according to him, the purpose of this project
20:09is not to bring back the cheetahs.
20:11But doing a PR exercise is the real purpose.
20:13I believe that this project
20:15can still be made a success
20:17if action is taken immediately on all these problems.
20:19But the question is
20:21will the government take action?
20:23Only time will tell.
20:25If you liked the video, then you will also like this video
20:27where I have talked about the problem of stray dogs.
20:29Another very big animal-related issue
20:31which can be seen in our cities.
20:33You can click here and see.
20:35Thank you very much.
20:43Thank you very much.