The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the Centre's response on the recent cheetah deaths at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park. It said 40 percent deaths occuring in a year does not give out a good picture, Hindustan Times reported.
As many as eight cheetahs, including three cubs, died at the MP national park within the last four months. Of them, two died recently because of an alleged skin infection septicaemia, which occurs because of the abrasion by radio collars. This then raised concerns on the monitoring of these carnivores at the national park. However, the Indian government had said the deaths were due to natural causes.
The top court also told the Centre to not make this issue about 'prestige' as these deaths were concerning. It reiterated its recommendation to the Centre in May, to explore alternate habitat options for the felines, irrespective of the state they are located in.
The Centre has agreed to file its response. The matter will be heard on August 1.
At present, the national park has a total of 15 cheetahs remaining. Of them, 11 are in the wild and four are in the enclosure. One of the cubs was rejected by its mother and is being looked after by the forest officials, HT reported.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had acknowledged the complexity and magnitude of the project, emphasising the risks associated with releasing cheetahs into free-roaming conditions due to the absence of fencing in Indian protected areas.
After the monsoon season ends in September, the ministry plans to reassess the situation and proceed with further releases into KNP or surrounding areas, as outlined in the Cheetah Conservation Action Plan. The goal is to establish a metapopulation, including areas such as Gandhisagar.
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