Reassessment of an introduced cheetah Acinonyx jubatus population in Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Translocations are used to mitigate human–wildlife conflict, secure population viability of isolated populations and introduce or reintroduce populations in former or new range. With wild species increasingly confined to small patches of habitat embedded in human-dominated landscapes, the use of translocations is likely to increase. The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus is a large carnivore species with a long history of translocations. As for other species, evaluation of the success of cheetah translocations is complicated by a scarcity of published results, especially of failed attempts. Yet, such information is crucial to improve future translocations. A relatively well documented case is the translocation of alleged problem cheetahs into Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, in the early 1990s. In this study we used a combination of survey methods to reassess the status of Matusadona's cheetah population and model current occupancy in relation to densities of competing carnivores and altitude. Our findings indicate this cheetah population has effectively been extirpated, highlighting the importance of thorough planning and standardized long-term monitoring of translocated populations for the understanding of the factors that affect translocation success.

Guidelines for evaluating the success of large carnivore reintroductions

“…Access to veterinary support can aid rapid intervention and minimize mortality, as observed with the rescue of key Asiatic black bear ( Ursus thibetanus ) individuals (Jeong et al, 2021), while retrieval of escaped cheetah from South African reserves prevented both individual mortality and community disengagement (Buk et al, 2018). Although post-release monitoring of reintroduced carnivores is key and can assist other restoration efforts, it is typically only conducted within the first four years (Bubac et al, 2019), and importantly, inadequate monitoring may contribute to the failure of large carnivore reintroductions, such as Asiatic lions in India (Negi, 1965) and cheetah in Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe (van der Meer et al, 2021). Large carnivore reintroductions must align with species management plans as well as local and regional policy, as programs which are unable to support self-sustaining populations through connectivity should form part of a species metapopulation plan, as demonstrated in southern African large carnivore studies (Buk et al, 2018; Davies-Mostert et al, 2015; Miller & Funston, 2014).…”