Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, September 10
It is official. India will have the charismatic cheetah back in its jungles on September 17—Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.
Addressing the National Conference for Zoo Directors at Bhubaneswar, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav today said PM Modi will launch the Cheetah Reintroduction Project from Namibia to India on September 17.
The reintroduction at the Kuno-Palpur Park in Sheopur district almost 70 years after it was officially declared extinct in India is the world’s first inter-continental translocation project of a large carnivore like cheetah.
Officials say helipads are being constructed in and around the KNP where the project will be launched.
While cheetahs can breed quite rapidly under good conditions, but in the reserves with high levels of leopard/other predator populations, some inter-species competition can be expected with some of the cubs born in India being killed by competing predators.
Amid criticism of the project from some quarters, all eyes are now on how well the new guests settle in Indian jungles amid the predator pressure.