Twelve of the predatory cats, which once roamed across much of Asia and Africa and are now extinct in India, will be flown to the state of Madyha Pradesh where they will be introduced to the Kuno National Park, the University of Pretoria said in a statement on Thursday.
In January 2020, the Supreme Court (SC) had allowed the Union government to bring the African cheetah to India in an effort to reintroduce the species in the country.
The IUCN Red List had classified the species as critically endangered globally.
The cheetah is the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out from India, mainly due to over-hunting and habitat loss. The country's last spotted cheetah died in Sal forests of Chhattisgarh's Koriya district in 1948 and the wild animal was declared extinct in the country in 1952.
The university is assisting with the program called Project Cheetah which aims to bring back the only large mammal that became extinct in India, thus restoring balance within the ecosystems it once inhabited.
The university says that it will be the first intercontinental species reintroduction of its kind.
As per the Ministry of Environment, Cheetah has a very special significance for the national conservation ethic and ethos. Bringing the cheetah back to India would have equally important conservation ramifications. Cheetah restoration will be part of a prototype for the restoration of original cheetah habitats and their biodiversity, helping to stem the degradation and rapid loss of biodiversity.
Prof Tordiffe and Professor Leith Meyer, Director of the Centre for Veterinary Wildlife Studies at University of Pretoria said, “The cheetahs earmarked for the India reintroduction come from various small private reserves in South Africa."
“They are currently in large quarantine camps at two facilities in South Africa and are being prepared for relocation to the initial reintroduction site in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh," he further added.
Outlining the way forward for the initial 12 animals, Prof Tordiffe said that once their quarantine ends and all logistics are finalised, the cheetahs will be flown to India.
“My role is to ensure that we get the cheetahs safely from South Africa to India, and to ensure effective disease management, preventing these animals from becoming infected or transmitting any diseases to carnivores in India," he said.
“This is only the first batch," Prof Tordiffe said.
“We will probably be sending more, perhaps smaller numbers, but a roll-out would occur almost every year for the next five to 10 years until we help establish a stable population in India. The cheetahs will not be lost to South Africa for good. The Indian population will always be considered as being linked to the South African population because there will be an ongoing exchange of animals back and forth to ensure effective gene flow."
The project will also create new opportunities for collaborative wildlife research between India and South Africa. “There is much we can learn from each other," he added.
As per the the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimation, there are fewer than 7,000 wild cheetahs in the world.
Recently on 20 July, the Indian government also signed an MoU with India and the Republic of Namibia on wildlife conservation and sustainable biodiversity utilization for the restoration of cheetah into the historical range in India.
The signing of the MoU took place between Vice President of Namibia, Nangolo Mbumba and Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav.
The MoU facilitates the development of a mutually beneficial relationship to promote wildlife conservation and sustainable biodiversity utilization based on the principles of mutual respect, sovereignty, equality and the best interest of both India and Namibia.
The main thrust areas of MoU include biodiversity conservation with a specific focus on conservation and restoration of cheetah in their former range areas from which they went extinct and sharing and exchange of expertise and capacities aimed at promoting cheetah conservation in two countries.
Wildlife conservation and sustainable biodiversity utilization by sharing good practices in technological applications, mechanisms of livelihood generation for local communities living in wildlife habitats and sustainable management of biodiversity are among the key aspects of the MoU, the ministry said.
Among large carnivores, conflict with human interests are lowest for cheetahs, as they are not a threat to humans and usually do not attack large livestock. Bringing back a top predator restores historic evolutionary balance resulting in cascading effects on various levels of the eco-system leading to better management and restoration of wildlife habitat (grasslands, scrublands and open forest ecosystems), conservation of cheetah's prey and sympatric endangered species and a top-down effect of a large predator that enhances and maintains the diversity in lower trophic levels of the ecosystems, the ministry statement said.
(With inputs from agencies)
