Cheetah Reintroduction in India

• Over 70 years after they went extinct, 8 cheetahs landed in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior in India from Namibia.
• On board the jet were eight Namibian wild cheetahs, five females and three males.

Reason for extinction of cheetah in India

• Over-hunting
• Decimation of its relatively narrow prey base species
• Loss of grassland-forest habitat

Cheetah Reintroduction Project

• A plan to reintroduce cheetahs in India endorsed in 2009 by then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was shot down by the Supreme Court in 2013.
• The idea was revived in 2017 by the present Government , and the SC cleared the move in 2020 “on an experimental basis”.
• This is the first time in the world that a large carnivore will be relocated from one continent to another.

Why was Kuno National Park chosen

• Healthy prey base (chital, sambhar, neelgozi, wild pig, gazelle, kan gur, peafowl)
• Rainfall level, temperature and altitude are similar to conditions in both South Africa and Namibia