Cheetah Conservation
Context:
- In contemporary times, humans are mostly responsible for species extinctions and biodiversity loss.
- In the context of India, the cheetah, the only large animal wiped extinct by humans in independent India, was reintroduced by the Indian government in September 2022, demonstrating the government’s dedication to preserving our natural legacy.
The cheetah is the ecosystem’s flagship and umbrella species:
- The cheetah was an evolutionary force responsible for the speed of its principal prey, the blackbuck.
- Unlike tigers, leopards, and lions, which hunt by ambush, the cheetah hunts by chasing its prey, removing the sick, aged, and young from the population, ensuring survival of the fittest and keeping the prey population healthy.
- When lower trophic levels are operating optimally, a top predator at the top of the food chain can sustain its population.
- This is the concept behind Project Tiger, which uses the tiger as a symbol to generate funding for the preservation of intact ecosystems. Several ecosystems in India lack tigers; cheetahs could serve as a conservation model in those locations.
Long-term commitments are required for successful reintroductions:
- Long-term commitments from multiple sectors are essential for effective reintroductions.
- Rewilding habitats entails reducing biotic pressures by incentivized voluntary community relocation, as has been done in tiger reserves. Resources for these must be committed to at least three to five sites throughout the long term (25-30 years).
- For example, India lacks Africa’s vast wilderness areas with low human concentrations. However, within the cheetah’s historic range, India has around one lakh square kilometres of protected areas (PAs). Individual PAs, on the other hand, are insufficient to sustain a healthy cheetah population in the long run.
- As a result, conservationists must be innovative in managing cheetahs from several places as a metapopulation, purposely transferring cats between them to imitate natural dispersal for demographic and genetic viability.
- Once a population of cheetahs has been formed, they will disperse naturally to colonise larger human-dominated settings and may naturally exchange individuals across some of the protected sites.
Local communities benefit from biodiversity conservation activities in the following ways:
- As conservation efforts result in the relocation of forest dwelling communities, the government provides incentives to local inhabitants to relocate.
- It’s a win-win situation for locals and biodiversity protection, as well as an opportunity for governments to earn people’s trust.
- When given the opportunity, most forest communities aspire to integrate into mainstream culture, which gives them with access to markets, roads, power, hospitals, jobs, and education.
- Community-based ecotourism, sharing gate receipts with buffer zone villages, and an increase in real estate with the entrance of biodiversity are some direct economic benefits to local people if activities are carried out properly and fairly.
- In addition, a clear compensation strategy for livestock predation must be devised.
- People are more likely to be tolerant of cheetahs if they benefit financially from having them in their society, as people in Saurashtra do from having lions.
Problems related with the introduction of Chettah into Kuno National Park:
- They lived in Kuno, which had a hot and humid atmosphere, and their winter fur accumulated moisture, which the radio collars worsened, leaving their skin itchy and sensitive. Maggots infected the scratched wounds.
- Unfortunately, the inexperience of the field crew hindered early detection of the ailment, which could have resulted in a simple cure.
- Given enough time, southern African cheetahs are expected to adapt to the Indian photoperiod and change their biorhythms to coordinate their coat with Indian winters.
Conclusion:
The discharge of the first intercontinentally translocated cheetahs gave the initiative the required credibility. The only way to return Cheetahs to India is through metapopulation control and economic incentives to communities.
