News Analysis India

Tag: Kuno National Park

  • MP wildlife officials say no female cheetah at Kuno National Park pregnant

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), the donor agency that provided eight cheetahs to India before they were released at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) on September 17, has not confirmed that any of the five female cats are pregnant, a top forest official of the state said today.

    “There is nothing to support the October 1 media reports that one of the female cheetahs is pregnant,” said Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J S Chauhan. According to reports, one of the cheetahs, named Asha, has been “exhibiting all behavioural, physical and hormonal signs” of being pregnant. Asha was among the cheetahs picked from the Namibian wilds.

    But Chauhan, who dismissed the reports, said that “Neither has the donor agency (CCF) confirmed nor have we conducted any test based on which it can be said that one of the cheetahs is pregnant.”

    Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dean and Senior Scientist Dr Yadvendradev V Jhala, who and eight other researchers have been maintaining round-the-clock observation over the cheetahs, dismissed the reports as being based on “rumours”.

    ALSO READ | Forest Survey of India finds 6421 trees felled for Modi’s dream Pakhro tiger safari project

    Disclosing that “ultrasonography tests were done on all the eight cheetahs”, Jhala said that “it is possible that she had embryos which were at a very primitive stage and the long, stressful long flight,” may have taken its toll. A WII researcher, who is part of a team, also dismissed the reports, saying, “there is no indication that any of the female cheetahs are pregnant”.

    ALSO READ | PM calls for making Kuno best cheetah habitat

    Each of the cheetahs is in separate (50 mt x 30 mt) enclosures during the ongoing month-long quarantine. “So there is no question that any male-female pair mated after reaching Kuno,” Chauhan said.

    The cheetahs “will be eligible” on October 17 for moving to the bigger enclosure – 5.5 sq km – where they will be able to hunt on their own, Chauhan said, adding that “depending on their health and adaptability, they will remain in these nine enclosures for three to four months”.

    Pointing out that besides the eight cheetahs, 12 others of the South African variety were “earlier supposed to arrive together”, Chauhan said that the second batch of the big cats will now “hopefully reach here in October itself” provided the Indian and South African governments first sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

    NEW DELHI: The Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), the donor agency that provided eight cheetahs to India before they were released at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) on September 17, has not confirmed that any of the five female cats are pregnant, a top forest official of the state said today.

    “There is nothing to support the October 1 media reports that one of the female cheetahs is pregnant,” said Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J S Chauhan. According to reports, one of the cheetahs, named Asha, has been “exhibiting all behavioural, physical and hormonal signs” of being pregnant. Asha was among the cheetahs picked from the Namibian wilds.

    But Chauhan, who dismissed the reports, said that “Neither has the donor agency (CCF) confirmed nor have we conducted any test based on which it can be said that one of the cheetahs is pregnant.”

    Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dean and Senior Scientist Dr Yadvendradev V Jhala, who and eight other researchers have been maintaining round-the-clock observation over the cheetahs, dismissed the reports as being based on “rumours”.

    ALSO READ | Forest Survey of India finds 6421 trees felled for Modi’s dream Pakhro tiger safari project

    Disclosing that “ultrasonography tests were done on all the eight cheetahs”, Jhala said that “it is possible that she had embryos which were at a very primitive stage and the long, stressful long flight,” may have taken its toll. A WII researcher, who is part of a team, also dismissed the reports, saying, “there is no indication that any of the female cheetahs are pregnant”.

    ALSO READ | PM calls for making Kuno best cheetah habitat

    Each of the cheetahs is in separate (50 mt x 30 mt) enclosures during the ongoing month-long quarantine. “So there is no question that any male-female pair mated after reaching Kuno,” Chauhan said.

    The cheetahs “will be eligible” on October 17 for moving to the bigger enclosure – 5.5 sq km – where they will be able to hunt on their own, Chauhan said, adding that “depending on their health and adaptability, they will remain in these nine enclosures for three to four months”.

    Pointing out that besides the eight cheetahs, 12 others of the South African variety were “earlier supposed to arrive together”, Chauhan said that the second batch of the big cats will now “hopefully reach here in October itself” provided the Indian and South African governments first sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

  • Cheetahs at KNP: Villagers fear land acquisition, human-animal conflict

    By PTI

    SHEOPUR: Amid the excitement over the arrival of Cheetahs in the Kuno National Park, villagers in the surrounding areas of Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district have a variety of concerns including the fear of land acquisition and the fear of the big cat itself.

    Some people are, however, optimistic that once the KNP becomes famous for its new entrants, increased tourist footfall will create jobs.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning released eight cheetahs brought from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at the KNP as part of a project to revive the population of the animal which became extinct in India in 1952.

    “What will happen to my small food outlet when the remaining four-five villages are shifted for the park? We are already affected financially because of the relocation of 25 villages for the Kuno Park over the last 15 years,” said Radheshyam Yadav, a vendor selling snacks and tea on Sheopur-Shivpuri road, speaking to PTI.

    His shop is at Sesaipura, 15 km from the KNP. Ramkumar Gurjar, a farmer, has apprehension that the people of Sesaipura will lose their livelihood due to a nearby dam project.

    “Villages were shifted earlier for the national park. Now a dam project is coming up on Kuno river in the nearby Katila area. This project is going to affect at least 50 villages which are connected to Sesaipura. After their shifting, what will happen to grocery, clothes and other small business outlets in Sesaipura? Then our village will be left alone here,” Gurjar told PTI.

    ALSO READ: India releases eight cheetahs into the wild, seven decades after local extinction

    Asked about the hope that the cheetahs will bring more tourists, he claimed that the hospitality business will be run by “rich outsiders” and local residents will only get menial jobs in hotels and restaurants.

    Santosh Gurjar, another resident, said that following the shifting of villages, a local shopkeeper who sold groceries, fertilizer and seeds had to shift to Shivpuri for lack of business.

    Dharmendra Kumar Ojha, who runs a clothes shop, apprehended that cheetahs may enter the villages.

    “What will the local people get from this project? Outsiders are buying up land for hotels and restaurants. The relocation of villages will further affect the business. But the project will bring infrastructural development,” Ojha said.

    Surat Singh Yadav, who runs a tea shop on the road leading to the national park, believes that the cheetah reintroduction project will generate employment in the area.

    “Land prices are going up. Those having legal title of land are asking for higher prices. There is a temporary jump in the business due to the PM’s programme but I can not say about the future,” he said.

    ALSO READ| Arrival of African cheetahs in India: A look back at the legal tangles and court battles

    Another shopkeeper, Keshav Sharma, claimed that his business has grown three times.

    “Land prices have gone up. Tourists used to come here in small numbers earlier but their numbers will certainly go up now,” he said.

    Kailash, a labourer and resident of village Tiktoli, two km from the KNP’s entry gate, was nervous about the future. “I don’t know about benefits, but I am afraid because the cheetah has come here. Where will we go,” he said.

    Kamal, who belongs to Tiktoli and currently lives in Sheopur, said the village has no water supply, telephone network and jobs and the only source of livelihood is subsistence farming.

    SHEOPUR: Amid the excitement over the arrival of Cheetahs in the Kuno National Park, villagers in the surrounding areas of Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district have a variety of concerns including the fear of land acquisition and the fear of the big cat itself.

    Some people are, however, optimistic that once the KNP becomes famous for its new entrants, increased tourist footfall will create jobs.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning released eight cheetahs brought from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at the KNP as part of a project to revive the population of the animal which became extinct in India in 1952.

    “What will happen to my small food outlet when the remaining four-five villages are shifted for the park? We are already affected financially because of the relocation of 25 villages for the Kuno Park over the last 15 years,” said Radheshyam Yadav, a vendor selling snacks and tea on Sheopur-Shivpuri road, speaking to PTI.

    His shop is at Sesaipura, 15 km from the KNP. Ramkumar Gurjar, a farmer, has apprehension that the people of Sesaipura will lose their livelihood due to a nearby dam project.

    “Villages were shifted earlier for the national park. Now a dam project is coming up on Kuno river in the nearby Katila area. This project is going to affect at least 50 villages which are connected to Sesaipura. After their shifting, what will happen to grocery, clothes and other small business outlets in Sesaipura? Then our village will be left alone here,” Gurjar told PTI.

    ALSO READ: India releases eight cheetahs into the wild, seven decades after local extinction

    Asked about the hope that the cheetahs will bring more tourists, he claimed that the hospitality business will be run by “rich outsiders” and local residents will only get menial jobs in hotels and restaurants.

    Santosh Gurjar, another resident, said that following the shifting of villages, a local shopkeeper who sold groceries, fertilizer and seeds had to shift to Shivpuri for lack of business.

    Dharmendra Kumar Ojha, who runs a clothes shop, apprehended that cheetahs may enter the villages.

    “What will the local people get from this project? Outsiders are buying up land for hotels and restaurants. The relocation of villages will further affect the business. But the project will bring infrastructural development,” Ojha said.

    Surat Singh Yadav, who runs a tea shop on the road leading to the national park, believes that the cheetah reintroduction project will generate employment in the area.

    “Land prices are going up. Those having legal title of land are asking for higher prices. There is a temporary jump in the business due to the PM’s programme but I can not say about the future,” he said.

    ALSO READ| Arrival of African cheetahs in India: A look back at the legal tangles and court battles

    Another shopkeeper, Keshav Sharma, claimed that his business has grown three times.

    “Land prices have gone up. Tourists used to come here in small numbers earlier but their numbers will certainly go up now,” he said.

    Kailash, a labourer and resident of village Tiktoli, two km from the KNP’s entry gate, was nervous about the future. “I don’t know about benefits, but I am afraid because the cheetah has come here. Where will we go,” he said.

    Kamal, who belongs to Tiktoli and currently lives in Sheopur, said the village has no water supply, telephone network and jobs and the only source of livelihood is subsistence farming.

  • Back in India after seven decades: Plane carrying eight cheetahs lands in Gwalior

    By PTI

    GWALIOR: Eight cheetahs from Namibia landed here on Saturday, as part of the programme to reintroduce the feline in India seven decades after it was declared extinct in the country.

    A modified Boeing aircraft, which took off from the African country Friday night, carried the cheetahs in special wooden crates during the around 10-hour journey.

    The plane landed at the Gwalior airbase shortly before 8 am, an official said.

    They will be flown to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is celebrating his birthday, will release three of the cheetahs in quarantine enclosures of the park at 10.45 am.

    The animals are being flown from Gwalior to Kuno in Sheopur district, 165 km away, in an Air Force helicopter, and the journey will take about 20-25 minutes, an official said.

    Officials battled heavy rain, inclement weather and some blocked roads to complete the preparations for Modi’s programme to release the big cats in their new home in Kuno.

    Two days before Modi’s arrival, heavy rain lashed the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh.

    After completing necessary formalities, including paperwork, at Gwalior the cheetahs will be flown to Palpur village, some 165km away, in Sheopur district in two helicopters, a Chinook and a Mi category chopper, he said.

    From Palpur, the felines will be brought to Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district by road, Chauhan said.

    The cheetah intercontinental translocation project is taking place at a time when India has completed 75 years of its independence.

    The eight cheetahs – five females and three males – are being brought from Namibia as part of ‘Project Cheetah’, the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project, officials said.

    In a departure statement, India’s High Commissioner to Namibia Prashant Agrawal said, “This is a very special moment indeed. As these magnificent cheetahs board the flight to India, we are being witnessed to history being made here today.”

    “This is a global first. This intercontinental translocation is the first of its kind, with no parallels ever. The reintroduction has a special significance as India marks its 75th independence anniversary this year,” Agrawal said.

    The Indian envoy thanked the team of Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) led by Dr Laurie Marker for making significant contributions in executing the translocation project.

    These cheetahs are the goodwill ambassadors for India-Namibia relations and, indeed, for the cause of conservation of the fastest land animal all over the world, he said.

    Prime Minister Modi will arrive at the Gwalior airport from New Delhi at around 9.20 am and leave for KNP, where he will release the cheetahs into quarantine enclosures at around 10.45 am, officials said.

    As per the earlier plan, the special plane carrying the big cats from the African country was to land at the Jaipur airport, from where they were to be flown to KNP, around 400km from the Rajasthan capital.

    The release of wild cheetahs by the prime minister in KNP is part of his efforts to revitalise and diversify India’s wildlife and its habitat, said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday.

    The introduction of the fastest land animal in India is being done under Project Cheetah, which is world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project, the statement said.

    Cheetahs will help in the restoration of open forest and grassland ecosystems in India.

    This will help conserve biodiversity and enhance ecosystem services like water security, carbon sequestration and soil moisture conservation, benefiting the society at large, it said.

    Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister released a glimpse of a cheetah arriving at KNP which sounds Meow on his Twitter handle.

    “It is a matter of extreme happiness that cheetahs are coming to Kuno National Park. We the people of Madhya Pradesh are eager to welcome our new guests,” Chouhan said in a tweet.

    Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted, “Some more of the same Cheetah. Grateful to Dr Manmohan Singh ji Jairam Ramesh ji and now Modi ji but above all Ranjit Sinh ji Retd IAS a keen Wildlifer who led the campaign.”

    The last cheetah died in the country in 1947 in the Korea district in present-day Chhattisgarh, which was earlier part of Madhya Pradesh, and the species was declared extinct from India in 1952.

    The ‘African Cheetah Introduction Project in India’ was conceived in 2009.

    A plan to introduce the big cat in the KNP by November last year was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Meanwhile, people residing around KNP are happy that the government has selected the wildlife sanctuary for the intercontinental cheetah translocation project, and hoped the move would create job opportunities and improve the fortunes of the region.

    According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), an international not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Namibia and dedicated to saving the majestic animal in the wild, the five female cheetahs bound for India are aged between two years and five years and the male siblings are aged between four-and-a-half years and five-and-a-half years.

    “It is a matter of pride for the people of Sheopur district that PM Modi has selected KNP for reintroducing cheetahs. We are waiting with bated breath to welcome the cheetahs,” said Kamal Singh, who resides in Sesaipura village located in the vicinity of the national park.

    Bharat Sharma, a resident of Karahal, said, “We are hopeful that now our future is secure as cheetahs will be rehabilitated in Kuno National Park, which will turn the fortunes of the region for better. We are now confident that KNP and Sheopur will be known the world over now and the programme will generate employment opportunities for people, especially youths.”

    The Maharajpura airbase is connected with a terminal building named after BJP stalwart late Vijayaraje Scindia, which is a civil airport, and is connected with a corridor for planes to reach there after landing at the main airstrip.

    The cheetahs will remain without food during their air and road journey and they will be given something to eat once they are released in the enclosures, another official said.

    Chief conservator of forest (CCF) Uttam Sharma said a dais has been set up in the KNP, under which special cages carrying cheetahs will be kept and PM Modi will release three of them in an enclosure by operating a lever.

    After that, other dignitaries will release the remaining cheetahs in other enclosures, he said.

    The cheetahs will be brought in a special flight of Terra Avia, an airline based at Chisinau, Moldova (in Europe) that operates chartered passenger and cargo flights.

    In view of the high-profile event, security in the district has stepped up.

    KNP is situated on the Northern side of the Vidhyachal mountains and is spread across 344.686 sq km.

    It has been named after a tributary of the Chambal River, Kuno.

    GWALIOR: Eight cheetahs from Namibia landed here on Saturday, as part of the programme to reintroduce the feline in India seven decades after it was declared extinct in the country.

    A modified Boeing aircraft, which took off from the African country Friday night, carried the cheetahs in special wooden crates during the around 10-hour journey.

    The plane landed at the Gwalior airbase shortly before 8 am, an official said.

    They will be flown to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is celebrating his birthday, will release three of the cheetahs in quarantine enclosures of the park at 10.45 am.

    The animals are being flown from Gwalior to Kuno in Sheopur district, 165 km away, in an Air Force helicopter, and the journey will take about 20-25 minutes, an official said.

    Officials battled heavy rain, inclement weather and some blocked roads to complete the preparations for Modi’s programme to release the big cats in their new home in Kuno.

    Two days before Modi’s arrival, heavy rain lashed the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh.

    After completing necessary formalities, including paperwork, at Gwalior the cheetahs will be flown to Palpur village, some 165km away, in Sheopur district in two helicopters, a Chinook and a Mi category chopper, he said.

    From Palpur, the felines will be brought to Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district by road, Chauhan said.

    The cheetah intercontinental translocation project is taking place at a time when India has completed 75 years of its independence.

    The eight cheetahs – five females and three males – are being brought from Namibia as part of ‘Project Cheetah’, the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project, officials said.

    In a departure statement, India’s High Commissioner to Namibia Prashant Agrawal said, “This is a very special moment indeed. As these magnificent cheetahs board the flight to India, we are being witnessed to history being made here today.”

    “This is a global first. This intercontinental translocation is the first of its kind, with no parallels ever. The reintroduction has a special significance as India marks its 75th independence anniversary this year,” Agrawal said.

    The Indian envoy thanked the team of Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) led by Dr Laurie Marker for making significant contributions in executing the translocation project.

    These cheetahs are the goodwill ambassadors for India-Namibia relations and, indeed, for the cause of conservation of the fastest land animal all over the world, he said.

    Prime Minister Modi will arrive at the Gwalior airport from New Delhi at around 9.20 am and leave for KNP, where he will release the cheetahs into quarantine enclosures at around 10.45 am, officials said.

    As per the earlier plan, the special plane carrying the big cats from the African country was to land at the Jaipur airport, from where they were to be flown to KNP, around 400km from the Rajasthan capital.

    The release of wild cheetahs by the prime minister in KNP is part of his efforts to revitalise and diversify India’s wildlife and its habitat, said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday.

    The introduction of the fastest land animal in India is being done under Project Cheetah, which is world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project, the statement said.

    Cheetahs will help in the restoration of open forest and grassland ecosystems in India.

    This will help conserve biodiversity and enhance ecosystem services like water security, carbon sequestration and soil moisture conservation, benefiting the society at large, it said.

    Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister released a glimpse of a cheetah arriving at KNP which sounds Meow on his Twitter handle.

    “It is a matter of extreme happiness that cheetahs are coming to Kuno National Park. We the people of Madhya Pradesh are eager to welcome our new guests,” Chouhan said in a tweet.

    Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted, “Some more of the same Cheetah. Grateful to Dr Manmohan Singh ji Jairam Ramesh ji and now Modi ji but above all Ranjit Sinh ji Retd IAS a keen Wildlifer who led the campaign.”

    The last cheetah died in the country in 1947 in the Korea district in present-day Chhattisgarh, which was earlier part of Madhya Pradesh, and the species was declared extinct from India in 1952.

    The ‘African Cheetah Introduction Project in India’ was conceived in 2009.

    A plan to introduce the big cat in the KNP by November last year was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Meanwhile, people residing around KNP are happy that the government has selected the wildlife sanctuary for the intercontinental cheetah translocation project, and hoped the move would create job opportunities and improve the fortunes of the region.

    According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), an international not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Namibia and dedicated to saving the majestic animal in the wild, the five female cheetahs bound for India are aged between two years and five years and the male siblings are aged between four-and-a-half years and five-and-a-half years.

    “It is a matter of pride for the people of Sheopur district that PM Modi has selected KNP for reintroducing cheetahs. We are waiting with bated breath to welcome the cheetahs,” said Kamal Singh, who resides in Sesaipura village located in the vicinity of the national park.

    Bharat Sharma, a resident of Karahal, said, “We are hopeful that now our future is secure as cheetahs will be rehabilitated in Kuno National Park, which will turn the fortunes of the region for better. We are now confident that KNP and Sheopur will be known the world over now and the programme will generate employment opportunities for people, especially youths.”

    The Maharajpura airbase is connected with a terminal building named after BJP stalwart late Vijayaraje Scindia, which is a civil airport, and is connected with a corridor for planes to reach there after landing at the main airstrip.

    The cheetahs will remain without food during their air and road journey and they will be given something to eat once they are released in the enclosures, another official said.

    Chief conservator of forest (CCF) Uttam Sharma said a dais has been set up in the KNP, under which special cages carrying cheetahs will be kept and PM Modi will release three of them in an enclosure by operating a lever.

    After that, other dignitaries will release the remaining cheetahs in other enclosures, he said.

    The cheetahs will be brought in a special flight of Terra Avia, an airline based at Chisinau, Moldova (in Europe) that operates chartered passenger and cargo flights.

    In view of the high-profile event, security in the district has stepped up.

    KNP is situated on the Northern side of the Vidhyachal mountains and is spread across 344.686 sq km.

    It has been named after a tributary of the Chambal River, Kuno.

  • Team to go to Africa for Cheetah study

    By Express News Service

    BHOPAL: With the Omicron wave gradually waning, the efforts to reintroduce Cheetahs into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior-Chambal region have started gaining pace. A five-member team from the Centre and MP, including MP Principal Secretary Ashok Barnwal and state’s PCCF JS Chauhan, returned from Africa on Sunday.

    Sources in MP forest department, however, refused to give a timeline or reintroducing Cheetahs in MP.“A MoU regarding the transfer of Cheetahs is being sent to African stakeholders via the central government. It is probably the first-ever inter-continent translocation project of a predator that is being taken place,” a senior forest official.

    Another team of officials and experts from the Kuno National Park will reach Namibia and South Africa to have a better understanding Cheetahs, their habitat and more. “Our experts are well versed with managing the other feline species, but not Cheetahs. Hence, field officers, including vets, will be sent,’’ the official added. 

  • Omicron derails India’s plan to bring back the cheetah to MP jungle

    By Express News Service

    BHOPAL:  The Omicron spread has put in a limbo the plans for cheetah’s reintroduction into the jungles of India after nearly seven decades.

    The reintroduction of cheetahs at the Kuno National Park in Sheopur and Morena districts of Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior-Chambal region, 69 years after the animal was officially declared extinct in India, was the world’s first inter-continental cheetah translocation project, slated to take off by December.

    But the alarming spurt in cases of Omicron variant and related travel ban to high-risk African nations has forced the team of MP Forest Department to cancel their recent trip to South Africa in connection with the relocation.

    The team, which was supposed to travel to South Africa for learning the necessary management and training, besides other protocol, before bringing the cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa, had to return from Delhi without boarding the international flight owing to the Omicron related international travel ban.

    While confirming the development, a senior official of the MP Forest Department said it’s not clear when the process of will now start, given the uncertainty over Omicron spread. 

    A national team comprising members from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Wildlife Institute of India, and Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change was also expected to go to South Africa along with the MP team. 

    Under the project, 8-10 pairs of cheetahs (male and female) were to be translocated in phases from Namibia and South Africa to the Kuno National Park. In July, MP’s forest minister, Vijay Shah had announced that at least 10 pairs of cheetahs (10 each of male and female) would arrive from Africa.

    This is not the first time that the progress of the ambitious project has been affected. Earlier, the destructive floods in the Gwalior-Chambal region, particularly in Sheopur district, had adversely affected on the ground the preparations for trans-locating the cheetahs at the Kuno National Park.

    India’s last three cheetahs found in MP and were reportedly hunted in 1947. In 1952, the world’s fastest animal was declared extinct in India.

    Top court’s stamp of approval to project

    The Supreme Court had approved the cheetah translocation project in January 2020 and formed a three-member committee comprising former Wildlife of India director, DG of Wildlife of India and DIG, Wildlife, MoEF&CC, to guide the National Tiger Conservation Authority in translocation of the African cheetah from South Africa and Namibia.

  • Madhya Pradesh to auction filming right of cheetahs in the wild

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  India is yet to reintroduce cheetah into the wild, but the Madhya Pradesh government already has big plans for it.

    Getting ready for eight of these big cats from South Africa, the state is also thinking of auctioning rights to film the conservation programme of cheetahs it is going to launch.

    If things go according to plans, Madhya Pradesh will receive five male and three female cheetahs from South Africa around November.

    They will be released in the Kuno National Park. The cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952 following excessive killing.

    As of now, the state government has decided that filming rights of this conservation work will be auctioned starting from a base price of Rs 42 lakh. It has given a global call to grant exclusive rights to the highest bidder.

    This comes at a time when concerns have been raised by experts about introducing cheetahs in Kuno. 

    The MP government, working under the supervision of National Tiger Conservation Authority on this project, said the selected agency will be allowed to film the arrival of cheetahs and their soft release into enclosures in Kuno.

    It added that cheetahs can also be filmed when they are actually released in the wild.

    Authorities said the purpose of allowing comprehensive documentation of this landmark programme is to share all information in public domain for education, training, research and awareness.

    Madhya Pradesh will get 5 male and 3 female cheetahs from South Africa.

    These cats will be released in Kuno National Park, most likely around November this year.

    Cheetahs are not found in India anymore. They were officially declared extinct in 1952, after excessive killing.

  • Cheetahs to be re-introduced in India, MP’s Kuno National Park to get 10 from Africa in November

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal which was declared extinct in India in 1952, is expected to be re-introduced into the country in November this year at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, state Forest Minister Vijay Shah said on Sunday.

    The country’s last spotted cheetah died in Chhattisgarh in 1947 and it was declared extinct in the country in 1952.

    The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) some years back prepared a cheetah re-introduction project.

    The Supreme Court had earlier given its approval to introduce African cheetahs to a suitable habitat in India on an experimental basis.

    “We have started the process of creating an enclosure for around 10 cheetahs, including five females, to be brought from South Africa to Kuno in Sheopur district and it is going to be completed by August,” Shah told PTI.

    Officials from India will be sent to South Africa for sensitisation and training in June and July this year and according to the plan, the transportation of the cheetahs will take place in October and November, he said.

    Kuno, located in the Chambal region, is spread over an area of over 750 sq km and has a conducive environment for the cheetah, he said.

    The protected area, comprising a considerable population of four-horned antelopes, chinkara, nilgai, wild boar, spotted deer and sambar, has a good prey base for the cheetahs, he said.

    “According to the approved timeline sent to us by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change this week, the tentative budget outlay of the ‘Project Cheetah’ is Rs 1,400 lakh for this fiscal,” the minister said.

    The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is going to release the money for the project to Madhya Pradesh and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) at Dehradun next month, Shah said.

    An expert from South Africa visited the Kuno National Park on April 26 this year along with scientists from the WII and inspected the facilities and habitat created there for the introduction of African cheetahs.

    They approved it and now the final process of bringing the cheetah is underway, a forest official said.

    Earlier, experts from the WII had visited four places in Madhya Pradesh to look for the best habitat for the introduction of African cheetah in the country last year, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J S Chauhan, told PTI.

    The WII team had visited the Kuno National Park in MP’s Sheopur district, the Nauradehi sanctuary in Sagar district, the Gandhi Sagar sanctuary on the northern boundary of Mandsaur and Neemuch districts and the Madhav National Park in Shivpuri district, Chauhan said.

    “Madhya Pradesh had in the past been home to cheetahs.

    The state has a long conservation history…we have the habitat. We also have a successful animal translocation track record,” Chauhan said, referring to the tiger reintroduction programme in the Panna Tiger Reserve in 2009.

    Cheetah is considered vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species, with a declining population of less than 7,000 found primarily in African savannas.

    The Supreme Court last year set up a three- member committee to guide the NTCA on the cheetah re-introduction project.

    The panel has asked the WII to carry out a technical evaluation of all possible sites for the re-introduction of cheetah in the country.