India to spend nearly Rs 40 crore to bring back cheetahs

India will spend about Rs 40 crore to bring back more than a dozen Cheetahs from Africa over the next five years.

The Centre is in discussions with a few African countries including South Africa and Namibia to bring about 12-14 wild cheetahs (8-10 males and 4-6 females) from various parks and reserves in an effort to create a thriving local population of the spotted cats.

Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, the Minister of State for Environment said Rs 38.70 crore from Project Tiger has been allocated for the cheetah introduction project between 2021-22 and 2025-26.

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While the ministry had recently released an action plan on cheetah reintroduction – a project that was under consideration for more than a decade – the action plan didn’t spell out the budget for the ambitious scheme.

Choubey said the animals meant for translocation would be from a reproductive age group and genetically diverse and disease-free. They would also have to be behaviorally sound - not overly imprinted to humans but tolerant, predator wary, capable of hunting wild prey, and socially tolerant of each other for establishing a new cheetah population. They would be the founder stock for the initial five years.

Initially, the cheetahs would be introduced in Kuno-Palpur national park in Madhya Pradesh, which is a part of the larger Sheopur-Shivpuri dry deciduous open forest landscape.

Over the years, a lot of restorative investment has been made at the site for the introduction of Asiatic Lions, because of which it is ready with the required level of protection, prey, and habitat to house the cheetahs.

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According to the action plan, Kuno Palpur was estimated to have a capacity to sustain 21 cheetahs. Once a cheetah population establishes itself within the park, some of the animals are likely to disperse and colonise the landscape that can potentially hold 36 individuals.

Once a cheetah population is established in Kuno Palpur national park, reintroduction of the lion or colonsation by tigers would not be detrimental for cheetah persistence. Kuno offers the prospect of housing four large felids of India - tiger, lion, leopard and cheetah - to coexist as they did in the past.

Three other potential sites are Nauradehi and Gandhi Sagar sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh and Shahgarh Bulge near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

Choubey said Cheetah restoration will likely result in better conservation of open forest, grassland, and scrub ecosystems for which they would serve as a flagship species.

The cheetah was declared extinct from India in 1952, four years after the last three known animals were shot in the forests of Koriya district in Chhattisgarh.