WILDLIFE ANIMAL PROTECTION FORUM SOUTH AFRICA STATEMENT ON THE EXPORT OF CHEETAH FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO INDA

According to a recent media article published by the Times of India, South Africa is apparently waiting quarterly progress reports on Project Cheetah, which are supposed to be sent by India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as part of the MoU signed between the two countries. The project is stalled, according to an unnamed source, pending import permission from Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The seventy-eighth meeting of the CITES Standing Committee takes place in Geneva, Switzerland between the 3rd and 8th February 2025.
The Wildlife Animal Protection Forum of South Africa (WAPFSA) welcomes the opportunity to support an investigation into current Cheetah export project between South Africa and India.
Until such transparent, robust investigation is concluded and published for comment, a moratorium should be placed on the future exports of wild Cheetah from South Africa to India. In addition, WAPFSA would welcome the assurance that Cheetah are not currently being captured and housed in bomas in South Africa for the next stage of the project.
READ THE FULL WAPFSA STATEMENT ON PROJECT CHEETAH
Excerpts from the statement:
“In November Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dion George was officially asked if South Africa was intent on sending more Cheetah to India. He was also asked about the high mortality rate and significant problems that have been experienced in the recent export of Cheetah to India. The question was raised about why the project and the attendant export concerns were not included in the Cheetah non-detrimental findings.
Minister George responded by stating: “the Cheetah mortality rate in India had not exceeded the expected mortality and the mortalities experienced thus far, were withing the normal parameters for wild Cheetah reintroduction.”
A non-detrimental finding is about the impact of the export on the source population and not the suitability of the receiving country. Therefore, the NDF will not address the importing suitability but rather whether the export from South Africa is detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild in South Africa.”
Minister George, confirmed at the end of November 2024, that no additional Cheetah had been exported from South Africa to India. All application for exportation of additional Cheetah would be dealt with on a case by case basis and will also be informed by the periodic scientific assessments to be undertaken on the translocated Cheetah as well as the population viability analysis of Cheetahs in South Africa.
Concerns have, despite the Minister’s assurances, been raised by an international community of conservationists involved in the US$11 million project, who say inexperience and mismanagement as well as the government’s politization and the sideling of expert opinion may have contributed to the Cheetah deaths.
In addition, concerns for the vulnerability of the wild Cheetah species in South Africa have been addressed, with conservationists fearing that there does not seem to have been robust scientific research or planning carried out in India to support this project.
According to numerous media reports, a total of twenty Cheetah were exported to India from Namibia and South Africa. Currently, to the best of our knowledge, there are twenty-four Cheetah still alive, including the twelve cubs born in captivity in India.
It is important to note that all twenty-four Cheetahs are still in bomas (enclosures) ranging in size from 50 to 150 hectares in size.
After two years, all attempts to release the Cheetah from the bomas have been unsuccessful. The Cheetah that have been released have either died or have had to be recaptured after wandering away from the Kuno National Park in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. “
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©Image: EMS Foundation 2024