PROJECT
CHEETAH - ENVIRONMENT
News:
How are cheetahs faring
in India?
What's
in the news?
● As
more deaths of cheetahs have been reported last week from the Kuno National
Park (KNP), Madhya Pradesh, an expert committee charged with managing the
Project Cheetah programme has recommended that all animals undergo a thorough
medical review.
Key
takeaways:
● Unlike cheetahs in South Africa and Namibia
that are living in fenced reserves, India's plan is to have them grow in
natural, unfenced, wild conditions.
● As
of today, 11 of the translocated cheetahs are in the true wild with four in
specially designed one-square kilometre survival tactics: The cheetah cuts who
were born in May in Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, enclosures called
'bomas, to help the animals acclimatise to Indian conditions.
● Five
of the translocated animals and three of four cubs born in India have died.
Project
Cheetah:
● Project
Cheetah is India's cheetah relocation programme and is perhaps among the most
ambitious of its kind in the world.
● The
attempt is to, over the next decade, bring in 5-10 animals every year until a
self-sustaining population of about 35 cheetahs is established.
Cheetahs
reintroduction plan:
● Under
the plan, 50 Cheetahs will be introduced
in the different National Parks in the country in a span of 5 years.
● This
is the first time in the world that a large carnivore will be relocated from
one continent to another.
Countries:
● Initially,
translocating around 8-12 cheetahs from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana will
be done.
● First project:
Place of reintroduction: The
cheetahs have been introduced in an unfenced area of about 750 sq. km. in the
Kuno National Park.
● Implementation:
The Ministry is coordinating with the National Tiger Conservation Authority
(NTCA) as well as the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which has been
spearheading the project on behalf of the Indian government.
IUCN
status:
● Asian
Cheetah- Critically Endangered
● African
Cheetah- Vulnerable