Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav on Wednesday launched the ‘Action Plan for the Introduction of Cheetahs in India’, as efforts are underway to bring back the world’s fastest cat to the country after 70 years.
Launching the action plan at the 19th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Yadav said, “Independent India is all set for the return of the extinct cheetah.”
The cheetah is the only large carnivore that became extinct in India in the 1950s due to hunting and habitat loss.
Now, with the help of the Wildlife Institute of India and the Wildlife Trust of India, the ministry will translocate around 8-12 cheetahs from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana – which have the largest populations of animals in the world. Big cats will live in Kuno Palpur National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
Initially, in 2010, 10 sites were identified for the project. A re-evaluation of sites in 2021 by WII, however, found the 748 square kilometer Kuno Palpur National Park to be most suitable for cheetah relocation in terms of habitat and a substantial hunting base.
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