Cheetah Reintroduction in India

[Matias]

Releasing pregnant female(s) in the Kuno-free area complicates their adaptation. Cheetahs, like any other feline, regulate their fertility cycle according to broad environmental and health conditions. Only after they feel fully acclimated will nature make its reproductive call.

I'll give you an example: Dr. Byron du Preez in his lion/leopard study at the Bubye Valley Conservancy (Zimbabwe), verified and exposed in his academic thesis that, due to the large number of lions (more than 500 spread over an area of 374,000 hectares), female leopards were delaying their reproductive cycle . His conclusion was that due to the difficulty of females in keeping their cubs alive until adulthood in an environment highly impacted by lions, it was slowing down and inhibiting their natural reproductive cycle – some healthy females had been without reproduction for years.

In India there are already African cheetahs in zoos and similar enterprises. Is there any difference in birthing cheetah cubs in these locations compared to birthing in a fenced area within Kuno?

I've been warning, as time passes, the willingness to release seems to decrease. Those responsible for the project in India are creating obstacles, difficulties and, now, “a facilitator” to keep them inside the fences longer. That's the only way they continue to have control and keep the preliminary round in the spotlight. There is no plausible logic in facilitating reproduction within the acclimatization area; it will be another stressful factor for the females that are fertilized to stay alive after being released (adaptation is not enough, you will have to quickly find a suitable place to give birth and hide the pups, within the framework of greater survival to which all will be subjected).

“Who knows, the situation could be even worse: waiting for the pregnant females to have their young in the acclimatization area and, for reasons to be announced later, all of them will be kept for an indefinite time in the fenced area." Reply