12 Cheetahs From Africa Arrive at Kuno National Park
The second batch of 12 cheetahs, will be flown in from South Africa and will arrive at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.
As predators, cheetahs control the number of prey species in their ecosystem. Cheetahs' main prey are herbivores. Without cheetahs, these populations grow. This can cause problems such as “over grazing”: when animals eat all the vegetation. Asiatic cheetahs became extinct in India in the late 1940s. Experts say that excessive hunting and loss of habitat led to their disappearance. In 2020, India's Supreme Court had ruled that African cheetahs, a different subspecies, could be brought into the country at a "carefully chosen location" on an experimental basis. In 17 Septemeber 2022 PM Modi birthday, eight cheetahs were transported from Namibia to the Kuno National Park in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Now 12 more big cats will join those introduced from Namibia. The C-17 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) left India on 17th Feb morning to bring the 12 cheetahs from South Africa. The cheetahs will arrive on February 18. Environment minister Bhupendra Yadav said that as many as 10 quarantine enclosures have been created at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park for 12 cheetahs being flown in from South Africa.
Uttam Sharma, director of Kuno National Park, said the big cats will be placed in quarantine enclosures upon their arrival. As per Indian laws, imported animals need to be kept in isolation for a month before and after their arrival in the country. The 12 cheetahs have been living in quarantine in South Africa since July. However, their translocation was delayed by months, as the two countries worked out the final details of the agreement. Wildlife experts have raised concerns about the long quarantine periods the cheetahs are being subjected to, and say that it could harm their health and fitness. However, Mr Sharma said that all preparations to receive the big cats "had been completed". India has been making efforts to reintroduce cheetahs since the 1950s. An effort in the 1970s from Iran was unsuccessful after the Shah of Iran was deposed and the negotiations stopped. Proponents of the project say that the reintroduction of cheetahs will build up local economies and help restore ecosystems that support the big cats. But some worry that relocation of animals is always fraught with risks and releasing the cheetahs into a park might put them in harm's way.
