Cheetah Reintroduction in India

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Kuno sanctuary ready to welcome cheetahs

Bhopal: The wildlife wing of the 
Madhya Pradesh forest department has invited experts from NTCA and WII-Dehradun for a final inspection of 
Kuno wildlife sanctuary with positive indications from Namibia for execution of the world's first intercontinental translocation project. Kuno is ready to welcome cheetahs. Everything needed for the translocation, including the enclosures, are ready, officials say.

The Namibian government has agreed to sign the revised MoU that was sent by the Indian government with minor changes, said sources. “Hopefully cheetah will reach Kuno by August this year. We just want the experts to check the arrangements before shifting starts,” said an officer.

Officers here had plans to get cheetahs from South Africa if not from Namibia over speculations that the latter was trying to use the project for securing ivory trade support.



Indian authorities were also in talks with the South Africa government through Endangered Wildlife Trust, which had initially assured providing 100 cheetahs for Kuno wildlife sanctuary in over a decade.



Y V Jhala, dean of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and one of the members of the team, Ashok Barnwal, principal secretary, Madhya Pradesh government and J S Chouhan, principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife 

warden, Madhya Pradesh among other delegates met the Namibian authorities in February this year. Jhala who is leading this project has got a two years' extension.



They held G2G-level talks with the Namibian officials. They also called on Netumbo Nandi-Ndiatwah, deputy prime minister and minister of international relation and cooperation.

A five-member team of experts, including principal secretary of Madhya Pradesh forest department and chief wildlife warden along with experts from MoEF and WII, had visited Namibia to hold talks on sourcing a few cheetahs to their historical range and wild habitat in India. The goal was to finalise modalities for translocation of cheetahs to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.



The Namibian government reportedly sought India's support against the global ban on ivory trade by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Namibia claims that their CITES's decision has hindered their conservation efforts). The cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952 -- the only large carnivore to disappear from Independent India.



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