Kuno (Madhya Pradesh): Two cheetahs who were flown in from Namibia and released in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park made their first kill within 24 hours of being released into a large enclosure, DFO Prakash Kumar Verma told the media on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the cheetahs in India on his birthday this year on September 17. The two cheetahs were released on Sunday in the bigger enclosure after completing their mandatory quarantine. The release of the two cheetahs came after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change received a no-objection certificate from the Ministry of Animal Husbandry for quarantine clearance to be released in a big enclosure.
As part of the efforts to revitalize and diversify the country's wildlife and habitat, they were being brought to India decades after their extinction. The habitat that has been selected in Kuno is very beautiful and ideal, where there is a large tract of grasslands, small hills, and forests and it is very much suitable for cheetahs. Heavy security arrangements in Kuno National park to prevent poaching activities have been made.
Radio collars have been installed in all the cheetahs and monitored through satellite. Apart from this, there is a dedicated monitoring team behind each cheetah that keeps monitoring the location for 24 hours. Under the ambitious project of the Indian government, "Project Cheetah", the reintroduction of wild species particularly cheetahs are being undertaken as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.
India has a long history of wildlife conservation. One of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures "Project Tiger" which was initiated way back in 1972, has not only contributed to the conservation of tigers but also to the entire ecosystem.In 1947-48, the last three cheetahs were hunted by the Maharaja of Korea in Chhattisgarh. Subsequently, the Indian government declared cheetahs extinct in 1952.
