Project Cheetah chief denies radio collar link in big cats deaths, plans next batch release

Speculations linking radio collars to the deaths of big cats at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park have been dismissed by the head of Project Cheetah, SP Yadav. Yadav, who also serves as a member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), defended the use of radio collars as a crucial and proven technology for monitoring carnivores and animals worldwide.

In an interview with a news agency, Yadav said, "There is no truth that any cheetah died due to radio collars. I want to say that monitoring is not possible in the wild without radio collars."

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Project Cheetah, an initiative aimed at reintroducing cheetahs to India, has made significant progress in this endeavor. Out of the 20 cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa, 14 adults are in excellent health and thriving. Additionally, four cheetahs were born in India, with one of them now six months old and doing well. Yadav attributed the loss of three cubs to climatic factors.

The reintroduction of cheetahs in India marked a historic moment in wildlife conservation, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi releasing African cheetahs into the wild at Kuno National Park on September 17 last year. However, since March this year, nine cheetahs have sadly passed away at the park.

Yadav emphasized that none of the cheetah deaths at Kuno National Park were a result of hunting, poaching, or human conflict. He praised the preparation and measures taken to safeguard the cheetahs, stating that they have successfully achieved milestones in the past year, with no instances of hunting, poaching, or poisoning.