Centre turned to Reliance's wildlife facility after cheetah deaths in Kuno

After three cheetahs died in just over a month last year in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, the National Tiger Conservation Authority in May 2023 called in experts from Reliance's wildlife facility in Gujarat to review health monitoring protocols, official records show.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority's (NTCA) Assistant Inspector General of Forests Abhishek Kumar wrote to the CEO of Reliance Industries' Jamnagar-based Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (GZRRC) on May 11, 2023, requesting that a team of experts be sent to Kuno to "review health monitoring protocols" and provide advice to "ensure the welfare of the cheetahs" following the deaths of three spotted felines between March 27 and May 9.

Kumar's letter said Project Cheetah was the first intercontinental reintroduction of a wild, large carnivore species with "no comparable historical precedent" and it was not surprising that a project of such a "magnitude and complexity would face many ...