New Delhi, Jul 16 (PTI) The environment ministry on Sunday said five out of the 20 adult cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa died due to natural causes and media reports attributing the deaths to factors like radio collars were based on "speculation and hearsay without scientific evidence".

In a statement, the ministry also said several steps have been planned to support the cheetah project, including the establishment of a Cheetah Research Center with facilities for rescue, rehabilitation, capacity building, and interpretation.

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"Out of 20 adult cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa to India, five mortalities of adult cheetahs have been reported. As per the preliminary analysis, all mortalities are due to natural causes. There are reports in the media attributing cheetah deaths due to radio collar etc. Such reports are not based on any scientific evidence but on speculation and hearsay," the statement said.

The ministry said consultations are being conducted with international cheetah experts and veterinary doctors from South Africa and Namibia to investigate the cause of the cheetah deaths.

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The project's monitoring protocols, protection measures, managerial inputs, veterinary facilities, training, and capacity building aspects are also being reviewed by independent national experts, it said.

It said the Centre's Cheetah Project Steering Committee is closely monitoring the project's progress and has expressed satisfaction with its implementation. The government has deployed a dedicated team from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to work closely with field officials.

This team is responsible for analyzing real-time field data collected by monitoring teams to make informed decisions regarding management, health, and related interventions for the cheetahs, the ministry said.

Male cheetah Suraj, translocated from South Africa, died at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur on Friday, while another translocated male cheetah Tejas died on Tuesday.

Some experts on the cheetah project said that some recent deaths could possibly be due to an infection caused by radio collars though that is highly unusual and collars have been used in wildlife conservation in India for over two decades.

Other experts, however, said only the post-mortem report will determine the exact cause.

Rajesh Gopal, the head of the cheetah project steering committee, said the reason for the cheetahs' death could be septicemia from radio collar use.

"It is highly unusual. I have also seen it for the first time. It's a cause for concern and we have directed (MP forest staff) to check all the cheetahs," he said.

He said it is possible that aberrations, humid weather can lead to infection from radio collar use.

"We have been using collars in wildlife conservation for around 25 years in India. I have never come across such an incident. We have good, smart collars available these days. Still if such an incident is happening, we will have to bring it to the notice of manufacturers," Gopal added.

South African cheetah metapopulation expert Vincent van der Merwe said extreme wet conditions are causing the radio collars to create infection and possibly that was the reason behind the cheetahs' death.

The ministry said the cheetah project is still in progress and it would be "premature to judge its success or failure within a year".

It said valuable insights have been gained in cheetah management, monitoring, and protection over the past 10 months.

The ministry remains optimistic about the project's long-term success and urges against speculating at this stage, it said.

As part of new steps being considered to support the project, additional forest areas will be brought under the administrative control of Kuno National Park for the landscape-level management, it said.

Additional frontline staff will be deployed, and a Cheetah Protection Force will be established, the ministry said, adding a second home for cheetahs is envisioned in Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh.

Under the Project Cheetah, a total of 20 radio collared cheetahs were imported from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

After a mandatory quarantine period, the cheetahs were moved to larger acclimatisation enclosures. Currently, 11 cheetahs are in free-ranging conditions, while five, including a cub born in India, are within a quarantine enclosure. Each free-ranging cheetah is closely monitored by a dedicated team.

The ministry said that the reintroduction of cheetahs is a significant project that is expected to face challenges. It cited global experience, particularly from South Africa, where initial reintroductions resulted in over 50 percent mortality among introduced cheetahs.

The causes of mortality can include intraspecific fights, diseases, accidents before and after release, injuries during hunting, poaching, road accidents, poisoning, and attacks by other predators.

The action plan for the cheetah project includes provisions for annual supplementation of the initial founder population to manage the demographic and genetic composition of the reintroduced population.

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