As many as eight cheetahs have arrived from Namibia and in a short while, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release them in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.
New Delhi: “The cheetahs have arrived in their new home- KUNO – heavenly habitat for our cats,” tweeted an emphatic Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who was tasked to oversee the arrangements as the big cats were shifted to an air force chopper which flew the cheetahs directly to the Kuno National Park.
As many as eight cheetahs have arrived from Namibia and in a short while, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release them in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park as a part of reintroducing cheetahs in India. Around 70 years ago the big cats had gone extinct from India.
A special plane with the cheetahs arrived at Gwalior’s Maharajpura airbase a little before 8 am. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said there is no greater gift for Madhya Pradesh than this on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday. He added that reintroducing cheetahs will rapidly boost tourism in the state, especially in the Kuno-Palpur region.
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A leading expert on cheetahs, Dr Laurie Marker said, “The cats have not been tranquilised but under very mild sedation. They are looking great.” Dr Marker was in the jet which flew the cheetahs from Namibia to India.
OBJECTIVES BEHIND REINTRODUCING CHEETAHS
- 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.
