Tag: cheetahs

Some cheetahs to be shifted to new habitats due to lack of space at Kuno

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Bhopal: Some of the cheetahs currently housed in Madhya Pradesh’ Kuno National Park (KNP) will be shifted to new habitats in the coming months. As per the forest officials, the proposal was already part of the ‘cheetah reintroduction project’ but the fresh proposal has been made following the sudden death of male African cheetah ‘Uday’ on Sunday.
The Madhya Pradesh Forest and Wildlife Department has written to the Centre for some alternative habitats for cheetahs translocated from South Africa. J. S. Chouhan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), said the KNP spread over 748 sq kms has the capacity to accommodate a maximum of 21 cheetahs at one time. However, this number needs to be reduced to provide a larger area for each cheetah to roam in and also to ensure their safety.
“It will be a risk to keep all the cheetahs in one place and therefore, I have requested the Centre to find an alternative place to shift some of them,” J. S. Chouhan told IANS on Tuesday. However, he did not mention exactly how many cheetahs would be shifted from KNP.

A total of 20 cheetahs (eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa) were released in the KNP enclosure in two phases, out of which, two have died within a period of one month. Female Namibian cheetah ‘Sasha’ died of a kidney related aliment on March 27, while African male cheetah, who was given the name ‘Uday’ last week, died of cardiac arrest on Sunday.
As ‘Project Cheetah’ is monitored by the Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) under the supervision of the Ministry of Forest, it would finalise the new habitats and the number of cheetahs to be shifted. However, if sources are to be believed, at least four-five cheetahs (both male and female) would be shifted to a new habitat.
Sources told IANS that most likely the cheetahs would be shifted to Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR), which is located in Rajasthan’s Kota district. As per the reports, cheetah experts have also recommended MHTR as the best possible site for cheetahs as it was also included in the risk management plan.
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#cheetahs #shifted #habitats #due #lack #space #Kuno

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 25, 2023
MP: 2 more Namibian cheetahs released into wild at Kuno National Park

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Sheopur: Two more Namibian cheetahs were on Wednesday released into the wild at the Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) here, where the felines were translocated from the African country in September 2022, a forest department official said.
With this, four of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia have been released into the wild in the park in Sheopur district.
Elton and Freddie, popularly known as “Rockstars”, were successfully released into the free range area of the park from a large enclosure at around 6.30 pm, Sheopur’s divisional forest officer (DFO) P K Verma told PTI.
“Both are healthy and doing well,” he said.
On March 11, two cheetahs — Oban and Asha — were released into the wild, almost six months after they were brought to the KNP.
Eight Namibian cheetahs — five females and three males — were brought to the KNP as part of a reintroduction programme aimed at reviving the species’ population in India, where they became extinct more than 70 years ago.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released the cheetahs — the world’s fastest land animal — in a special enclosure at the park on September 17 last year.
They were first moved to acclimatization enclosures from quarantine bomas (animal enclosures in November last year. They were later released into hunting enclosures of the park.

A dozen more cheetahs – seven males and five females were brought to the KNP from South Africa on February 18, 2023. The KNP is now home to 20 cheetahs.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 22, 2023
South Africa translocates 12 cheetahs to India

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New Delhi: South Africa on Friday translocated 12 cheetahs to India in a Cooperation Agreement, an official said, adding the animals were sent to India as part of an initiative to expand the cheetah meta-population, and to reintroduce cheetahs to a former range state following their local extinction due to over-hunting and loss of habitat in the last century.
A media statement in this regard was also issued by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, South Africa.
The cheetahs will join eight of the mammals relocated to India’s Kuno National Park from Namibia in September 2022.
Earlier this year, the governments of South Africa and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation on the Reintroduction of Cheetah to India.
The MoU facilitates cooperation between the two countries to establish a viable and secure cheetah population in India; promotes conservation and ensures that expertise is shared and exchanged, and capacity built, to promote cheetah conservation.
This includes human-wildlife conflict resolution, capture and translocation of wildlife and community participation in conservation in the two countries.
Conservation translocations have become a common practice to conserve species and restore ecosystems.
South Africa plays an active role in providing founders for the population and range expansion of iconic species such as cheetahs.

“It is because of South Africa’s successful conservation practices that our country is able to participate in a project such as this — to restore a species in a former range state and thus contribute to the future survival of the species,” said the South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy.
The cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952.
Restoring cheetah populations is considered by India to have vital and far-reaching conservation consequences, which would aim to achieve a number of ecological objectives, including re-establishing the function role of cheetah within their historical range in India and enhancing the livelihood options and economies of the local communities.
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#South #Africa #translocates #cheetahs #India
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 17, 2023