Reintroduction of Cheetahs

In News

• India will receive its first batch of cheetahs from Africa by the end of 2021.

About

• As part of the programme, two experts, one from Namibia and the other from South Africa the two countries with the highest cheetah populations in the world, will arrive to train Indian forest officers and wildlife experts on handling, breeding, rehabilitation, medical treatment and conservation of the animals.
• This is the first time in the world that a large carnivore will be relocated from one continent to another.

Reintroduction

• ‘Reintroduction’ of a species means releasing it in an area where it is capable of surviving.
• Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognised as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.

• Causes of Extinction
  • Human-wildlife conflict, loss of habitat and loss of prey, and illegal trafficking.
  • Emphasis on agriculture eventually led to less forest land, and climate change are major contributors.
  • The Cheetahs are believed to have disappeared from the country when Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya hunted and shot the last three recorded Asiatic cheetahs in India in 1947.
  • It was declared extinct by the government in 1952.

India’s effort related to relocation of Cheetahs

• This isn’t the first time that India has attempted relocation of the cheetah.
  •  In the early 1970s, negotiations were carried out with Iran on behalf of the Indira Gandhi administration.

• Assessed sites-Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve and Shergarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kuno National Park, Madhav National Park and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.
  • Kuno National Park is identified for the relocation.
  • The site has been monitored since 2006 and identified for relocating the Asiatic Lion.

Significance of Reintroducing Cheetahs

• A section of conservationists has long advocated the reintroduction of the species in the country.
• It is recognised as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
• The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
  •  India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.”
• The conservation of the cheetah will revive grasslands and their biomes and habitat, much like Project Tiger has done for forests and all the species that have seen their numbers go up.