12 Cheetahs to be Flown from South Africa Under Cheetah Reintroduction Program
12 Cheetahs to be Flown from
South Africa Under Cheetah Reintroduction Program
Why In News
Union Environment
Minister Bhupender Yadav announced Twelve cheetahs will be flown in from South
Africa on 18th February under the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction program.
Key Points
·
Union
Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced Twelve cheetahs will be flown in from South
Africa on 18th February.
·
Under
the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction program, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
released the first batch of eight spotted felines — five females and three males
— from Namibia
into a quarantine enclosure at the Kuno National Park in Madhya
Pradesh on his 72nd birthday on September 17 last year.
·
India
to get more than 100 Cheetahs from South Africa
·
Presently,
the eight cheetahs at Kuno are killing prey every three-four day and are in
good health. One of the cheetahs was unwell as her creatinine levels had shot
up. She has recovered after treatment.
·
A C-17
aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) left the country to bring 12 cheetahs from
South Africa. Ten quarantine enclosures have been created at the Kuno National
Park for these felines.
·
India
and South Africa had in January signed an MoU to transport cheetahs from the
African country and reintroduce them in Kuno.
·
A
majority of the world’s
7,000 cheetahs live in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. Namibia
has the world’s largest population of cheetahs.
·
The
cheetah is the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out from India,
mainly due to overhunting and habitat loss. The last spotted feline died in
1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district.
·
National
Tiger Conservation Authority Head S P Yadav informed that Seven male and five
female cheetahs will embark on the journey to Kuno from O. R. Tambo
International Airport, Gauteng, South Africa.
·
The
cheetahs will arrive at the Gwalior Air Force base in Madhya Pradesh and they
will be then taken in IAF’s MI-17 helicopters.
·
According
to the ‘Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India’ prepared by the
Wildlife Institute of India, around 12-14 wild cheetahs that are ideal for
establishing a new cheetah population would be imported from South Africa,
Namibia, and other African countries as a founder stock for five years
initially and then as required by the program.