Exclusive: Cheetah Deaths In Kuno Spark Concerns About Radio Collar

Eight cheetahs have died at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, and some experts attribute the deaths to sub-standard radio collars given to the animals. Though government denies the charges as "speculation and hearsay without scientific evidence," NDTV has accessed footage that shows authorities examining the collar of a dead cheetah.

The video shows forest officials examining the radio collar and a maggot-infested wound on the neck of Cheetah Suraj, who died last week.

All the cheetahs in Kuno have a African wildlife tracking radio collar, equipment that does not have the backing of several experts.  

R Sreenivasa Murthy, an IFS who led the operation to revive the tiger population in Panna, says, "It can cause infection. We had faced such a situation in Panna, but we had 24/7 monitoring. If it is a synthetic collar, it should be replaced immediately."

"It is a polymer, initially it remains soft but with time when it is polymerised then becomes hard. If it is made of leather, it absorbs water its elasticity increases, and the animal does not suffer much from it," he added.

According to a source, after Suraj's death another cheetah (Pawan) was tranquillised and his radio collar was removed on Monday, potentially saving his life. Flies had already laid eggs in the wound on its neck. If the cheetah was not treated, maggot-infestation could have resulted in Pawan's death.

The government though has transferred Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) JS Chauhan, while the collars still remain.  

The transfer came after the death of two male South African cheetahs over four days in Kuno National Park (KNP) last week, which took the death count to eight since March, including three cubs born in park.

In September last year, India brought 20 adult cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa with an aim of reintroducing the animal in the Indian habitat.  

But five of those cheetahs have died, hurting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reintroduction plan.

Even though the collars flew with the cheetahs, experts say that they may not have caused the damage there due to the dry weather.

Denying any lapses behind the deaths, the Centre says, "There is no lapse behind any of the cheetah deaths. Even in the case of the deaths of the three cheetah cubs, global wildlife literature clearly mentions 90% per cent infant mortality among cheetahs."