Ashish Ranjan
Next month, a second group of 12 cheetahs—seven male and five female—will be sent from South Africa to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on collaboration in the reintroduction of cheetahs between the two countries was signed, the central government announced on Friday.
India has been anticipating the signature of this MoU in order to supplement the initial shipment of eight cheetahs it received from Namibia last year with additional large cats. The age range of the cheetahs in South Africa is 18 months to 4 years.
According to the agreement, a first shipment of 12 cheetahs will be flown into India from South Africa in February 2023. According to a statement from the Environment Ministry, the cats will join eight cheetahs that were brought to India from Namibia in 2022.
“The exact day the cheetahs will arrive has not yet been determined. According to S P Yadav, assistant director of Project Tiger and member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, “We are sending a delegation from India to South Africa in the first week of February, and once they give the go light, we will decide on the date” (NTCA).
According to Yadav, certain changes have been made to the current bomas (wildlife enclosures created often for the treatment or quarantine of animals), based on observations made over the past few months, even though the methodology for transporting the second batch of cheetahs remains the same.
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Building a gallery around the acclimatisation enclosure is one of these upgrades that will allow for the least intrusive possible feeding and watering of the big cats.
Early in the 1950s, overhunting and habitat destruction led to the total extinction of India’s large cat population. Over the course of five years, 50 cheetahs will be transported from African nations to various national parks as part of the “Action Plan for Reintroducing Cheetah in India.”
