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‘Cheetah mitras’
To start the restoration of the species in India, the Prime Minister of India will shortly release 3 Cheetahs (two male siblings and a female) into an enclosure at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.
In the centre of the 748 square km Kuno National Park, a quarantine enclosure of 50 by 30 metres is prepared to accept 8 cheetahs from Namibia.
The five to six-year-old cheetahs will remain isolated in the enclosures for the upcoming month while being closely watched.
During their confinement time, the cheetahs are not required to hunt.
To ensure that no other animal enters and the large cats can successfully acclimate to their new environments,
The Cheetahs will be released into a 550-hectare enclosure that is divided into nine sections and connected by gates after the quarantine period is over.
The cheetahs will have to hunt in the larger enclosure where they will stay for an additional month in order to survive.
Five CCTV-equipped watchtowers have been built, two drone squads have been established, and at least 24 retired military soldiers have been hired in an effort to dissuade poachers.
A group of roughly 400 young people known as "cheetah mitras" have been trained to educate the villagers about cheetahs and how they vary from leopards in appearance and behaviour.
The Cheetah is a carnivore and historically inhabited most of Sub-Saharan Africa and extended eastward to India. It is the fastest land mammal in the world.
In the ecosystem, the cheetah has a significant role to perform. By eliminating the weak and elderly, they keep the population of prey under control and promote plant life by preventing overgrazing.
Cheetahs can be found in a variety of habitats, including savannahs in the Serengeti, dry mountain ranges in the Sahara, and mountainous desert terrain in Iran, making up only 9% of their historical range today.
The world's highest concentration of cheetahs makes Namibia the "Cheetah Capital of the World."
As there are currently less than 7,100 adult and juvenile Cheetahs in the wild, they are classified as Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
In the past, Asiatic Cheetahs were found throughout most of India, from Bengal in the east to Tirunelveli region in southern Tamil Nadu, from Gujarat and Rajasthan in the west.
So, the habitat of the cheetah was quite varied, including scrub woods, dry grasslands, savannas, and other open, arid, and semi-arid habitats.
The cheetah was officially declared extinct in the nation in 1952.
The Wildlife Trust of India began discussions in 2009 to reintroduce the cheetah back to India.
Sites to visit in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno Palpur National Park (KNP): Because of its ideal environment and sufficient prey base, KNP has received the highest rating out of the surveyed sites in the central Indian states.
It is believed to be the only wildlife location in the nation where villages have been entirely evacuated from within the park, and it is estimated to be capable of hosting 21 cheetahs.
Four of India's great cats—the tiger, lion, leopard, and cheetah—can potentially live together in Kuno, allowing them to coexist as they have in the past.
Other Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthani sites were also suggested as additional sites to visit.
Iran is home to the highly endangered Indian cheetah subspecies, which is locally extinct.
India will purchase cheetahs from Southern Africa instead of Iran since it is not possible to do so without harming this subspecies of the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah.
The highest reported genetic diversity among extant Cheetah lineages is found in southern African cheetahs, which is essential for a founding population stock.
Additionally, it has been established that Southern African Cheetahs are the ancestors of all other Cheetah lineages, making them appropriate for India's reintroduction programme.
The initiative benefits the ecosystem in addition to saving the big cat.
It is crucial to protect not only the cheetahs' primary food source, which includes a number of threatened species, but also other grassland species that are in danger of extinction.
They pose no threat to people and don't go after large animals either.
The decision to import the African cheetah into India cannot be justified scientifically, according to the evidence at hand.
In 2020, the Supreme Court of India approved the release of cheetahs in an appropriate habitat as an experiment.
Source: Indian Express