A dozen Cheetahs will be flown from South Africa after months of delay to the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh in the coming coming month. The South Africa and India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Re-introduction of Cheetah to India.
In terms of the agreement, an initial batch of 12 cheetahs are to be flown from South Africa to India during February 2023. The cats will join eight cheetah introduced to India from Namibia during 2022.
The KNP currently houses eight such felines who were brought from Namibia last year under the Cheetah revival project.
Restoring cheetah populations is considered to be a priority for India and will 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 improving the enhancing the livelihood options and economies of the local communities.
12 cheetahs to be transloacated annually for next eight to 10 years
Following the import of the 12 cheetah in February, the plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years.
KNP director Uttam Sharma said, "We are waiting for the arrival of 12 South African cheetahs. We have set up 10 quarantine bomas (enclosures) for them. In two of these facilities, two pairs of cheetah brothers would be kept."
In terms of the MoU, the countries will collaborate and exchange best practices in large carnivore conservation through the transfer of technology, training of professionals in management, policy, and science, and to establish a bilateral custodianship arrangement for cheetah translocated between the two countries.
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