The cheetahs are back in India after 70 long years, brought in from Namibia on a special flight that came in on Prime Minister Modi’s birthday. Other cheetahs will arrive in the coming months, with the next batch coming in from South Africa. Ahead of World Animal Day, the arrival of the Namibian cheetahs should shine the spotlight on at least ten other animals that are on an endangered list in India, such as the Asiatic Lion, the Indian bison and the blackbuck. Unlike the big cats, less impressive dogs and cats have survived, even thrived because of man’s fondness for them. Befriending the human and becoming his pet is one way for an animal to survive. If you wish to survive in mafia land and the human being is the mafia boss of all species, no question about it, you need to become friends with the boss. Is there another way?
Animals can also survive if they represent tasty food for humans. A species will be guaranteed survival, even if individually huge numbers may be slaughtered. This is the reason that the chicken, the pig and the cow and other edible beings need never have any fears of becoming extinct, because humans find them simply too tasty to allow that to happen. Across the planet, we have established breeding farms for the animals we eat. In countries where dogs are eaten, where appetite has trumped “lovability”, they have breeding farms.
Despite Hindu reverence for the cow, there are more than a billion cattle on the planet. Despite Islamic prohibitions against the consumption of pork, current estimates suggest there may be seven hundred and fifty million pigs on the planet. The population of chickens is said to be at least three times that of humans. Since cows, pigs and chicken are found to be so tasty, they will survive.
Australians regularly protest against the killing of whales by the Japanese and Norwegians. It is impossible to breed sharks and whales, so if they are eaten and cannot reproduce in our oceans at the rate at which they are slaughtered, they will gradually move towards extinction. The Australians are not wrong to be concerned, for it is a matter of historical record that in the past there have been animals we have eaten into extinction such as the sea cow, and the great auk, a flightless seabird.
It was not possible to breed the sea cow or the great auk, and so we ate them and they died. Not only must a species be tasty, it must be possible to breed it. Fewer than 5,000 tigers remain in the world, and only about 20,000 lions. Most of us would be aghast at the thought of eating a lion, tiger or cheetah, for that matter.
Ironically enough though, had breeding been possible and big cat meat found delectable, surpassing the taste of beef, pork and fish, perhaps the selfish and self-serving side of our nature would have ensured better chances of their survival.
Seventy years ago, as a result of our collective negligence, we robbed this land of one of its original, proud residents, one of the coolest big cats and by all accounts the fastest one on the planet, for the cheetah is able to run at an incredible 130 kilometres per hour. A BBC report cites sources that suggest that in Akbar’s time, there were at least 10,000 cheetahs.
Different views have been expressed on the possibility of survival of the cheetahs. Some wildlife experts have expressed doubts that the African cheetahs will survive. On the other hand, Pradnya Giradkar, the country’s first cheetah conservation specialist, referred to as the “cheetah lady”, with a PhD on tiger conservation, is confident that the Kuno experiment will work. In any event, with only 40 Asian cheetahs left on the planet, it would not have been easy to procure the Asian variety, and the idea of getting African ones instead appears to be a worthy experiment.
Often in India once a couple has been married for two or three years, or even earlier, they are harangued by relatives and neighbours asking: “Any good news?” In the same manner, national and state authorities may repeatedly ask the administrators of Kuno National Park every few weeks: “Any good news?”
One of the cheetahs has been given the name Asha by the prime minister. If Asha becomes pregnant in the days ahead, the news will make it to the front pages of newspapers. The duration of a female cheetah’s pregnancy is only three months or so. Her pregnancy will be closely monitored by the authorities and after a few months, should a litter of three or four baby cheetahs be born, that event too will make it to the headlines of national newspapers, more deservedly so perhaps than news accounts of children born to Bollywood actors, that currently feature on Page 3.
More than mainstream media, the news of four baby cheetahs being born, should it happen, will hopefully trump all fake and negative news on social media, at least for a couple of days, with photographs and memes circulating and names being suggested for the “cuties”.
Celebrities who give babies during that period will lament the fact that news of their offspring was eclipsed by news of the arrival of baby cheetahs.
While this is an eminently possible, but rosy, scenario, we also need to prepare for disappointments on the journey.
The nation looks forward to the cheetahs settling in and to any “good news” that may be announced. No pressure though. Given our collective failure to prevent their extinction back in 1952, the priority should not be to engender a pregnancy but rather to try and ensure their survival and well-being. It will be absolutely unforgivable if, once again, we cheat the cheetahs and rob them of the right to live on this land.
Rajesh Talwar is an author of 34 books across multiple genres. He has worked for the United Nations for over two decades in many countries.