Coalition of Cheaters

A Coalition of Cheaters:

The Wildlife Trade in Namibia is flourishing, amidst the latest Cheetah news. Hot off the Indian press, a new development involving the indiscriminate selling off of protected species by Namibia has reared its familiar head.

In India, where the Asiatic Cheetah roamed, the subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) was declared extinct in 1952. An isolated population of these critically endangered animals only exist in Iran.

An ambitious project launched by the Wildlife Institute of India, aims to re-introduce main-species Cheetahs into the areas where the subspecies previously occurred. To that end, an agreement has been signed between India and Namibia, for the latter to supply 35-40 Cheetahs for introduction into the wild in India, over the next few years. These wild-caught Cheetahs may be sourced from South Africa as well.

Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are listed as Vulnerable species under IUCN (The International Union for the Conservation of Nature). A vulnerable species is one threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve. Trade in Wildlife species such as vulnerable Cheetahs, are supposed to be strictly controlled by CITES. CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is a multilateral agreement between member countries to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of international trade. It has been enforced since 1 July 1975.

The aim of CITES, in terms of internationally trading Cheetahs, is to ensure that trade does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild. It is supposed to be governed by strict permits and laws. CITES theoretically affords varying degrees of protection to more than 38,000 species, but in practice, this is a whole different story.

The Times of India reports that eight Cheetahs had been approved for export to India, from Namibia. These Cheetahs were supposedly wild-caught Cheetahs, destined for the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, where they were to be released in 'a forest teeming with leopards'.

But, a recent visit to the quarantine facilities in Namibia by high-ranking officials from the Wildlife Institute of India, revealed that at least three of the captured Cheetahs currently in isolation in Namibia are captive-bred, (not wild) and cannot hunt for themselves. This means that they would starve to death, or be killed shortly after release, by the resident leopards. The Namibian Ministry needs to fulfill their quota of eight wild Cheetahs, so three more wild Cheetahs will need to be caught, and spend a month in quarantine before they can be moved to India. The CITES permits and oversights need to be adhered to, in order to protect the animals.

This incident highlights the murky waters of the wildlife trade, where legal and illegal wildlife and products intertwine, making it exceedingly difficult for ethically-minded people to be able to distinguish which projects legitimately need support.

Because neither South Africa nor Namibia is teeming with coalitions of Cheetahs, it comes as no surprize that Namibia has failed to provide eight wild Cheetahs for this project.

In the case of Cheetahs, the main contributor to their demise is habitat loss. A Cheetah can travel up to 11km per day in search of prey, and their home territory can range from 26 square kilometers to 777 square kilometers. It stands to reason that the last open spaces where wild Cheetahs still roam, need to be protected in order for the species to survive. And this includes the protection of the resident animals as well - not their removal for export!

Reintroduction of a geographically extinct species is a noble idea, if the wild population from which they are sourced is able to support such 'harvesting'. If you consider that a 2016 study determined that there are fewer than 7100 Cheetahs remaining in the wild, it really begs the question whether Southern Africa can afford to lose any more Cheetahs to export.

Written by Carina Crayton ? Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation

19 August 2022

#WHWF #EthicalConservation #WildHeartAfrica #Cheetah