Cheetah Reintroduction in India

[Sully]

Article from a couple weeks ago

http://m.timesofindia.com/articleshow/70546694.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Quote:Cheetahs to run again in jungles of Madhya Pradesh

 

August 6, 2019

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court appeared willing on Monday to greenlight National Tiger Conservation Authority’s proposal to experimentally introduce African cheetahs in Indian jungles. The last of the cheetahs was hunted down in the 1950s.

Pressing for the SC’s nod for the two-year-old proposal from NTCA, senior advocate S Wasim Ahmed Qadri told a bench of Justices S A Bobde and B R Gavai that 19 cheetahs were proposed to be brought from Namibia and introduced in sanctuaries carefully selected by experts.
In its plea-cum-roadmap, the NTCA said it had carried out extensive survey and research to locate ideal habitats for cheetah in India and zeroed in on three suitable habitats — Kuno and Nauradehi wildlife sanctuaries in MP and Shahgarh area in Rajasthan.

“How does the court have an expert view on whether or not cheetah will survive in India? What does anyone in this courtroom know about cheetah? If there is a law prohibiting relocation, we will stop it. If there is no law against it, we will allow it. We are considering allowing cheetah relocation in India on an experimental basis.”
Amicus curiae and advocate A D N Rao said he would consult the Central Empowered Committee, the SC appointed and now statutory environmental body, and get back to the court with its response in two weeks. The bench allowed Rao time to consult experts on the matter.

NTCA had rejected the cheetah species from Iran

The NTCA had rejected the cheetah species from Iran saying they were genetically weaker and also very few were found in the wild. “Cheetah from southern Africa would provide the best genetic stock having the maximum variability and largest gene pool from which animals for reintroduction can be easily obtained. Recent studies have shown that cheetah from southern Africa are ancestral to all cheetah, including the Asiatic one,” it said.

Quoting accounts by historian Irfan Habib and studies on cheetah, the conservation authority said, “Kuno and other habitats in India were occupied by cheetah in historic times in large number. Other areas where cheetah roamed presently fall in Rajasthan, Gujarat, central India and Uttar Pradesh. These were the grounds where cheetahs were hunted and captured during Mughal times.”

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