NEW DELHI: A dozen cheetahs will be translocated from South Africa to India on February 18, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate change, Bhupender Yadav on Thursday. The cheetahs will be translocated to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
Bringing the big-cats back to India will help in restoring the nation's natural heritage, the minister said. The project to introduce cheetahs to India aims to create a healthy cheetah metapopulation that will enable the cheetah to fulfil its functional role as a top predator and create room for the cheetah to spread out within its historical range, supporting efforts to conserve the species worldwide, he said.
Minister Yadav also expressed gratitude to the Indian Air Force and the Defense Ministry for providing unwavering support for the relocation. He also praised on the ministry's many efforts to save animals, such as Project Cheetah, the LIFE idea and its sustainability, Green Credit, Mishti -- a programme to protect mangroves -- and Gaj Utsav, among others. Three cheetahs were shot in the Sal (Shorea robusta) forests of Koriya in Chhattisgarh in 1947, marking the last known sightings of the animals in the wild in India. The main causes of the cheetah's collapse in India were the extensive habitat alteration and subsequent fall in the prey base, as well as the mass capture of cats from the wild for coursing, bounty, and sport hunting. In 1952, they were proclaimed extinct.
The main goals of the introduction project are to create breeding populations of cheetahs in secure habitats throughout their historical range, manage them as a metapopulation, and use the cheetah as a charismatic flagship and umbrella species to raise funds for restoring open forest and savanna systems that will benefit biodiversity and ecosystem services from these ecosystems.
For cheetah conservation, the Government of India and the Republic of Namibia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on July 20, 2022, as a result of G2G consultation talks that were launched by the Government of India. On September 17, 2022, eight cheetahs were transferred from Namibia to India following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding. Prime Minister Narendra Modi then released them into the quarantine bomas.
As per the Action Plan for Cheetah Introduction in India, 10 to 12 cheetahs must be brought annually from African nations for the next five years, at the very least. For collaboration in the field of cheetah conservation, the Government of India and the Republic of South Africa have been in bilateral talks since 2021. When a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Republic of South Africa in January 2023, the discussions were effectively completed.
On February 18, a first batch of 12 cheetahs (7 males and 5 females) will be translocated from South Africa to India in accordance with the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding. The Indian Air Force is transporting 12 cheetahs via helicopter from South Africa to Gwalior and then on to Kuno National Park. The cheetahs will be accompanied by a delegation of cheetah experts, veterinarians, and senior authorities during the transcontinental translocation exercise. In order to complete the required quarantine time after their arrival in India, all 12 cheetahs will be held in specially built cages in Kuno National Park and the animals will be closely monitored, the officials said.
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