From goat meat production to pay: Why cheetah trackers in Kuno National Park are on strike
For the first time in many decades, cheetahs are roaming India again. But the cheetahs’ way of life in Kuno National Park in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh is being questioned.
German researchers have expressed their concerns about the capacity of Kuno National Park to care for the big cats as part of the Cheetah Project. This time, the cheetah trackers working in Kuno have started a strike and made serious allegations against the administration.
NDTV approached Kuno to investigate the matter.
There are 26 cheetahs in Kuno, including 13 cubs. Although the park has faced many challenges in terms of habitat and adaptability, this time the problem is different: the cheetah trackers are on strike.
Most of them say they belong to the Gurjar and Yadav castes and hence cannot process goat meat to feed the cheetahs. They claim that their wages are extremely low – Rs 9,000 – for the strenuous work they do.
The government is currently working on finding a way to track down the cheetahs.
The cheetah trackers say the forest is a dangerous place and their job involves following the big cats for three to four days at a time. But safety is not guaranteed and their religious beliefs are not taken into account, protesters said.
There are 80 villages around Kuno, mostly inhabited by Yadavs and Gurjars, who use their organic network of volunteers to track the animals.
Villager Rajveer Gurjar said the administration should provide them more support. Villager Sitaram Yadav said following cheetahs for days is tiring work and yet they are paid very poorly.
However, the National Park Service refused to recognize these cheetah trackers. The Park Service stated that they simply employed a few people on the outskirts of the reserve.
The problem facing the cheetah trackers seems to be mainly related to their work stations. When the cheetahs were flown in, the talk was of development efforts in this region of Madhya Pradesh, where malnutrition is widespread.
The villagers had expected a lot of tourists. But nothing has changed in two years, they claim. They live in the same broken huts on dilapidated streets.
The only “tourist” facility nearby is the Palpur Resort, which also sometimes receives visitors.
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