New Delhi: India received 12 African cheetahs from South Africa in February 2023 for Project Cheetah, India’s ambitious but controversial programme to introduce African cheetahs into select grassland habitats in central India.However, South Africa has now paused sending cheetahs to India, according to a recent news report by the Hindustan Times. The African nation will now send additional cheetahs to India for Project Cheetah only after it reviews the health conditions of the previously translocated animals.Per the news report, this comes right after news that Kenya too has refused to send its cheetahs to India for the same project.The Wire recently reported about how despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that “everything is fine” with Namibian cheetahs, nine out of the 20 adult African cheetahs brought into India for Project Cheetah from Namibia (in September 2022) and South Africa (in February 2023), are dead.Five of the adults that died came from Namibia, and the remaining four that died were from South Africa.South Africa to ‘pause’ transfersThat leaves eight adult African cheetahs that came in from South Africa – four females named Nirva, Gamini, Veera and Dheera, and four males Vayu, Agni, Prabhas and Pavak – surviving in Madhya Pradesh, where Project Cheetah is underway.And it is the health conditions of these cheetahs that South Africa will review before it sends any more to India for Project Cheetah, as per the news report by HT.The report quoted Thobile Zulu-Molobi, spokesperson for South Africa’s forestry, fisheries and environment department, as saying that a minister would visit India to “review previously translocated cheetahs individually before any further translocation”.A decision would be made based on “a scientific assessment of whether the translocation will negatively impact the survival of the species in the wild, whether they would survive in their new home, and a population viability analysis used to predict the likelihood that a species will avoid extinction over a specific period”, HT reported the spokesperson as saying.But what’s making South African baulk at sending cheetahs to India now, considering that they already sent 12 in February 2023?Per the HT report, South African authorities have cited “inadequate communication” between the governments of both countries, the deaths of cheetahs due to extreme weather and the long captivity of wild cheetahs as reasons.The Indian Express had also reported on July 28 that according to senior members of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA, which is overseeing Project Cheetah in India), talks with South Africa had “slowed down” because of a new political coalition in the African country after its recent general elections.“In South Africa, there has been a significant change in the government since the last engagement,” IE quoted a senior NTCA official as saying. “Hence, the processes are taking time. The new government is going through the nuances and understanding the project.”Kenya refuses?Meanwhile, Kenya has “refused” to give India cheetahs, per the HT report. This is allegedly because environmentalists in Kenya had opposed the transfer of cheetahs from the African nation to India, citing the reason that “the introduction of a genetically distinct species violates International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) rules”.The IUCN is a membership union that brings governments, civil society organisations and experts together to conserve wildlife, and also releases crucial conservation lists such as the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (which classifies species into categories based on the levels of threat they face).The HT report quoted officials as saying that the IUCN “advised against introducing two subspecies into a translocation area, as such introduction can lead to genetic mixing and potential disruption of local adaptations”.However, it is unclear which sub-species are in question here. Genetic studies such as this one in 2017 recognize four distinct sub-species of cheetah across the world:The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), a subspecies that now dwells only in Iran but formerly also occurred in the Indian subcontinent. While India lost all its Asiatic cheetahs by the 1950s (the animal went extinct primarily due to hunting), Iran is now home to less than 20 Asiatic cheetahs. This sub-species of cheetah, therefore, is listed as “critically endangered”.So is the northwest African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) or the Saharan cheetah, a sub-species that lives in the Sahel and the Sahara desert in Africa. There are fewer than 420 individuals across parts of Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mali.The northeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus soemmerringi), which is found in northeastern Africa, or the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia. A recent study suggests that illegal wildlife trade – including that of live cheetah cubs of the sub-species – could well bring this sub-species close to extinction.The southeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) or the Namibian cheetah, which lives in southern and eastern Africa, including the countries of South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia.However, a classification of cheetah subspecies in 1975 recognised the southern African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) and the eastern African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus raineyii) as two separate sub-species. While the 2017 IUCN study clubbed both together, a genetic study in 2022 upheld this distinction. It categorised the population of cheetahs found in eastern Africa – including Uganda and Kenya – as the separate subspecies, Acinonyx jubatus raineyii.Cheetahs from Kenya, therefore, would belong to this sub-species, which is different from the one in South Africa.Apart from news of Kenya and South Africa, news reports have also said that India is trying to source cheetahs from other range countries too. Per the Indian Express, the Cheetah Project Steering Committee was told – as early as December 13, 2023 – that “steps have been taken for bringing further cheetahs from Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and other range countries as well.”However, the NTCA said that there is “no arrangement with Sudan or Tanzania” as of now, per the report.Per the same news report, Botswana has “formally committed” to sending four cheetahs to India, and discussions are ongoing to “finalise timelines”.Meanwhile, four cheetahs are likely to arrive in Bengaluru’s Bannerghatta Biological Park from Japan in exchange for Asian elephants.According to a recent news report, the Central Zoo Authority and other departments cleared this swap as part of a global animal exchange programme. Four Asian elephants have already been sent to Japan’s Himeji Safari Park from Bannerghatta. In return, Bannerghatta is to receive four cheetahs, four jaguars, four pumas, three chimpanzees and eight capuchin monkeys.