Environment Minister Bhupinder Yadav on Wednesday relased a 310-page action plan for reintroducing cheetahs in India. Cheetahs went extinct in India in the mid 1900s, thanks to excessive hunting for sport. Since the past decade, the government has been thinking of getting the big cat back to the country. India was that rare landscape where once, four felids roamed - tiger, lion, cheetah and leopard. It was in 2010, during the UPA government, that then environment minister Jairam Ramesh first proposed the idea.
The cheetah closest to the original Indian one, would have been the sub-species that ranges across Iran. However, given the population is small and therefore vulnerable, and not suited to the project, India has decided to procure the spotted cats from robust populations in Africa - Namibia and South Africa. The ministry will initially issue an import permit for 20 individuals. The Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia, and And Beyond, South Africa, are the two organisations which have shown interest to collaborate on the project.
Although there is no announcement yet on when the first batch of cheetahs will be imported, the plan talks about introducing at least 50 over the next five years. The plan was released at the 19th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority today.
As per the action plan, a cohort of 10 to 12 cheetahs that are ideal - a young age group and genetically diverse, and behaviouraly sound (not overly imprinted to humans and capable of hunting) - will be selected as the founder stock during the first year. An existing coalition of wild males will be selected while the selected females should also be known to each other, so that there is compatibility in co-existence. The plan emphasises on genetic diversity, which gives greater survival chances to a population.
Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh has been selected as the first site for the population, though long term plans include widening the range to other parks, which are still in various stages of being prepared for cheetah introduction. The animals will be released gradually into the wild from a 25 hectare enclosure, where they will spend the first few weeks, adapting themselves to India after the import.
The cheetah introduction plan expects a 5 per cent growth rate in the population and hopes that within 15 years, the released population should reach carrying capacity. To manage the genetic pool, the plan proposes substituting the male coalition by a different coalition after the F1 generation sired by the first male cohort has reached over 1.5 years. The plan details vaccinating all dogs in the vicinity to prevent spread of rabies, and also gives details in managing natural predators like jackals, hyenas and leopards while the cheetah population gets a chance to establish.
“This is proposed to be an ongoing activity after reintroduction, without an end of project situation in sight in the foreseeable future, However, the first phase of the project is devised, for the the sake of convenience alone, for a period of five years,” says the plan. The Centre proposes to bear the cost of Rs 91.65 crore during Phase 1. The entire financing, including research and relocating villages, will be borne by the Centre. The states will provide staff salaries and generally manage the area.
The plan envisages earning potential from filming, photo-documentation, merchandising and tourism.