The word cheetah is of Sanskrit origin, the ministry said, adding, “the cheetah finds mention in the ancient texts such as the Vedas and Puranas”.
New Delhi: India is planning to reintroduce cheetahs in the country, the only large carnivore that has become extinct in India. Officials said the aim is to contribute to the global conservation efforts.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said the aim is also to establish a viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the animal to perform its functional role as a top predator and provide space for the expansion of the population within its historical range.
Other objectives of the project:
- To establish breeding cheetah populations in safe habitats across its historical range and manage them as a metapopulation.
- To use cheetahs as a charismatic flagship and umbrella species to garner resources for restoring open forest and savanna systems that will benefit biodiversity and ecosystem services from these ecosystems.
- To enhance India’s capacity to sequester carbon through ecosystem restoration activities in cheetah conservation areas and thereby contribute towards the global climate change mitigation goals.
- To use the ensuing opportunity for eco-development and eco-tourism to enhance local community livelihoods.
- To manage any conflict by cheetah or other wildlife with local communities within cheetah conservation areas expediently through compensation, awareness, and management actions to win community support.
Also Read: World Tiger Day: What led India to become a safe haven for tigers
The ministry further said, “The introduction of the cheetah is not only a species recovery programme but an effort to restore ecosystems with a lost element that has played a significant role in their evolutionary history, allow ecosystems to provide services to their full potential.”
The word cheetah is of Sanskrit origin, the ministry said, adding, “the cheetah finds mention in the ancient texts such as the Vedas and Puranas; it is indeed ironical that the species is currently extinct in India”.
The original threats that resulted in the extinction of the cheetah have been abated and India now has the technical and financial ability to bring back its lost natural heritage for ethical, ecological and economic considerations, the ministry further said.
“Successful conservation introductions are a blend of best science, technology, sociological aspects and commitment of financial resources. These aspects are integrated in this Action Plan based on the modern scientific approach recommended by the latest International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines for reintroduction and other conservation translocations, provides the framework for bringing back the charismatic cheetah to India,” the ministry said.
