Environment
‘Reintroduction’
of a species means releasing it in an area where its capable of surviving.
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Reintroductions
of large carnivores have increasingly been recognized as a strategy to conserve
the threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
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The cheetah is the only large carnivore
that has been eliminated, mainly by overhunting in India in historical times.
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The
conservation of the cheetah will be revive grasslands and their biomes and
habitat, much like the Project Tiger has done for forests and all the species
that have seen their numbers go up.
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With help from the Wildlife Institute of
India and the Wildlife Trust of India, the ministry will be translocating
around 8-12 cheetahs from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
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These countries have the world’s largest
populations of the animal.
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The big
cats will live at Kuno Palpur national park (Madhya Pradesh) owing to its
suitable habitat and adequate prey base.
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This year
GOI has launched the ‘Action plan for Introduction of cheetah in India’ under
which fifty of these big cats will be introduced in the next 5 years.
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The
translocation will have to follow the protocols of international translocation
as underlined in the Convention on International trade in endangered species
(CITES).
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The action plan was launched at the 19th
meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
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NTCA is a
statutory body under the Ministry of environment, Forests and global climate
change.
Why
cheetah?
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Cheetah
happens to be the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out from
India, mainly due to over-hunting and habitat loss.
·
The Action
plan highlights the nation’s preparedness in bringing the cheetah back.
·
Conservation
of the Cheetahs has a very special significance for the national conservation
the ethic and the ethos.
·
The very name ‘Cheetah’ (Acinonyx Jubatus
Venaticus) originates from Sanskrit and means ‘the spotted one’.
·
Bringing
Back Cheetahs: A Boon to the Ecosystem Besides
conserving the big cat, the initiative in itself is a boon to the ecosystem.
·
Cheetahs
live in open plains; their habitat is predominantly where their preys live –
grasslands, scrubs and the open forest systems, semi-arid environments and the
temperatures that tend to be hotter compared to cooler
regimes.
·
In
saving cheetahs, one would have to save not only its prey-base comprising
certain threatened species, but also other endangered species of the grasslands
and open forest ecosystems, some of of
which are on the brink of the extinction.
·
Its also
observed that among large carnivores, conflict with human interests is lowest
for Cheetahs.
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Theyre not
a threat to humans and dont attack large livestock either.
Why
Kuno?
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Amongst the
ten surveyed sites of the central Indian states, Kuno Palpur national park
(KNP) in the Madhya Pradesh has been rated the highest.
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This is because of its suitable habitat
and adequate prey base.
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KNP is 748 sq. km.
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In area,
devoid of human settlements, forms part of Sheopur-Shivpuri deciduous open
forest landscape and is estimated to have a capacity to sustain twenty one
cheetahs.
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Kuno is
probably the only wildlife site in the country where there has been a complete
relocation of the villages from inside the park.
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Kuno also
offers the prospect of housing four big cats of the India – tiger, lion,
leopard and cheetah – and allowing them to coexist as in the past.
·
The other
sites recommended for holding and conservation breeding of cheetah in India, in
controlled wild conditions are:
1.
Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary (1,197 sq.
km, habitat 5,500 sq.km), Madhya Pradesh
2.
Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary –
Bhainsrorgarh Wildlife Sanctuary complex (~2500 sq.km), Madhya Pradesh
3.
Shahgarh
bulge in the Jaisalmer, Rajasthan (4,220 sq.km)
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