Bhopal: This will send your heart racing.
Cheetah will return to being wild in India – for the first time since independence –as 20 of the magnificent cats will be introduced here from Africa in November this year.
The ancient national park, in ‘Hindustan Ka Dil’, will be a Cheetah country, and this is probably the year when Madhya Pradesh, who already has a tag of ‘Tiger and Leopard State’ also gets a cheetah crown – and ‘spot’light’.
Forest Minister Madhya Pradesh Vijay Shah announced this at an event at Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal on Tuesday night.
“Ten men and 10 women’s cheetah will be flown from South Africa to Gwalior in two phases in November.
From there, they will be sent by road to ancient in the Sheopur district (about 150 km),” Shah said.
He released a mascot, ‘Chinta Cheetah’, to raise awareness about the Ancient National Park Cheetah Restoration project at the closing ceremony ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsava’ in Vihar Van.
Maintenance of 20 cheetahs for five years is estimated to cost Rs 75 Crore, which has been compiled by the Department of Forest with the help of petroleum companies, minister said.
The last Cheetah in the country died in Chhattisgarh in 1947 and was declared extinct in India in 1952.
The Cheetah Reintroduction project was a long dream in the country, with many countries competing for honor.
In 2019, the Supreme Court has approved a proposal from the National Tiger Conservation Authority to experimentally introduce African Cheetahes in Indian forests.
This project has competed for the past few months.
In March, experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (Wii) conducted a survey for a month from ancient wildlife asylum.
At that time, the Wii had concluded that Cheetah could be re-introduced on all sites surveyed in MP with the appropriate ‘investment’, and that ancient “ready” for direct reintroduction, with the least investment.
In January, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the meeting about this project, where officials said that ancient would be the best bet because the 750sQKM park only had one village, which had been moved.
Apart from the old fashioned, nauradehi 1,200sqkm asylum (the largest MP) was also considered conducive to relocating cheetah but ancient checking more boxes.
Gandhi Sagar-Chittorgarh-Bhainsrodgarh Sanctuary in Rajasthan has also been surveyed.
Ancient chosen for previous Lion’s gir translocation.
Shouldn’t it be an extraordinary ‘four’ for MP.