Radio collars have been strapped on all cheetahs to be tracked via satellite.
New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today released three of eight cheetahs to India on Saturday, seven decades after they became locally extinct, in an ambitious project to reintroduce big cats starting in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.
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Thanking the Namibian government for its help in introducing cheetahs in India, Prime Minister Modi said it was regrettable that “we declared cheetahs extinct in 1952, but for decades there were none. what constructive effort is being made to introduce them back.”
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“Project Cheetah, whereby cheetahs were reintroduced to the country after they became extinct seven decades ago, is our effort towards the environment and wildlife conservation,” he said. added, “21st century India is giving a message to the whole world economy and ecology are not two areas of conflict”.
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However, people will have to wait several months before they can spot these fastest land animals in Kuno, the Prime Minister said. “People will have to show patience, waiting for several months to see the jaguars being released in Kuno National Park. Today, these jaguars have come as our guests, no. We don’t know anything about the area. We had to spend a few months on these jaguars also to make Kuno National Park their home,” he said.
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On his 72nd birthday, the Prime Minister earlier today released three cheetahs into Kuno National Park. Wearing a fedora hat, the Prime Minister was also seen photographing the cats with a professional camera. He released two leopards from the first encirclement and then, about 70 meters away, from the second encirclement released another.
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Radio collars have been strapped on all cheetahs to be tracked via satellite. There is a dedicated surveillance team behind each cheetah that will monitor their movements around the clock.
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There is no greater gift for Madhya Pradesh than this on the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of the state. Shivraj Singh Chouhan said this morning, calling the ‘historic’ ferry of feral cats from Namibia to Kuno National Park the biggest wildlife incident of the century. This, he said, will accelerate the tourism industry in the state, especially in the Kuno-Palpur region.
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According to the Cheetah Conservation Foundation (CCF), an international non-profit organization based in Namibia and dedicated to saving the fastest land animals, the five female cheetahs range in age from 2 to 5 years old, while the female cheetahs range in age from 2 to 5 years old. males from 4.5 years old. and 5.5 years.
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India was in the past home to the Asian leopard, but the species was declared extinct in the country in 1952. Big cats are being brought to India from Namibia as part of a translocation project. continent.
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The national park is located in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh, about 165 km from Gwalior. Kuno Park was chosen as a shelter because of its abundance of prey and grasslands. But critics have warned that cheetahs may struggle to adapt to their habitat and could clash with the significant numbers of leopards currently available.
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The ‘African Leopard Introduction Project in India’ was conceived in 2009, and a plan to introduce the big cat species last November at the KNP was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said. . Considered Vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, there are less than 7,000 cheetah species left around the world – mainly in the African savannahs.
