Will be flown in at Jaipur from Namibia, 12 more to come from South Africa next month
Eight cheetahs will be brought to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno-Palpur National Park by helicopter on September 17 morning, a senior official said on Monday. They will be released into quarantine enclosures the same day as part of the cheetah reintroduction programme, he said.
The cheetahs will be brought in a cargo flight from southern African country Namibia to Jaipur in Rajasthan and a helicopter will further bring them to Kuno-Palpur on September 17 morning, principal chief conservator of forest J S Chauhan said.
Asked how many helicopters will be be used to transport the cheetahs, Chauhan said it would depend on the type of aircraft deployed for the purpose.
If a smaller aircraft is deployed, there will be two sorties to shift the felines from Jaipur to Kuno-Palpur, he said.
We have set up six small quarantine enclosures as per the legal mandate required during the shifting of animals from one continent to another, the official said.
He said according to the protocol, the animals need to be quarantined for a month each before and after shifting from one continent to another.
Asked about the age of the cheetahs to be reintroduced in the KNP, Chauhan said he does not have the information as officials at the Centre are having negotiations on this with the Namibian authorities.
The last cheetah died in the country in 1947 in Korea district in present day Chhattisgarh, which was earlier part of Madhya Pradesh, and the species was declared extinct from India in 1952.
The ‘African Cheetah Introduction Project in India’ was conceived in 2009.
A plan to introduce the big cat in the KNP by November last year had suffered a setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.
Besides Namibia, South Africa will be also sending 12 cheetahs to India in October.
Wildlife veterinarian Andy Frasier said the relocations are tough for the animals.
“It’s a very stressful process for the cats to be in a boma (livestock enclosure) environment because they have nowhere to go whilst we are darting them,” said Frasier of shooting the cats with darts of tranquilizers.
Frasier said the team is preparing for the larger and more challenging relocation of cheetahs to India which will require the cats to travel a much longer distance with stops in commercial airports. Those cheetahs would be treated with a tranquilizer that lasts for three to five days during their travel, he said.
There are two subspecies of cheetahs. Those that once roamed in Asia were declared extinct in India in 1952 and are now found only in Iran. Since then there have been efforts to reintroduce these cats to India’s savannahs. Initially the plan was to bring in cheetahs from Iran but now they are being moved from southern African countries.
In this restocking effort, Namibia is contributing eight cheetahs which will be flown to India this month, according to Vincent van der Merwe, manager of the Cheetah Metapopulation Initiative. South Africa will send an additional 12 cheetahs to India in October, he said.
“For a genetically viable population in India in the long-term you need at least 500 individuals, so every year we will send eight to 12 animals, to top them up, to increase numbers, to bring in new genetics until they have a viable population,” said van der Merwe.
The plan is for the cats to be kept in large enclosures in central Indian forests, protected from other predators like leopards or bears, to give them time to get used to their new home. The enclosures have prey — like deer and antelope — which scientists hope the cheetahs will hunt. After a few months of close monitoring, the cheetahs will be radio-collared and released.
The southern African countries of South Africa, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe still have significant cheetah populations and are expected to play a significant role in their reintroduction in India following the first shipments this year.
South Africa’s cheetah population is expanding at a rate of about 8% annually, allowing the country to move about 30 of the cats to other game reserves within South Africa and to export some to other countries, van der Merwe said. (PTI/AP)