African Cheetah likely to be translocated
With Iran refusing to give cheetah to India for translocation, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh said today that efforts would be made to get this animal either from Kenya, South Africa or Namibia.
"Iran has refused to give cheetah that has become extinct in India ," Ramesh told reporters here."Efforts will be made to secure cheetah either from Kenya, South Africa or Namibia," he added.
The Minister said that experts sounded pessimistic over the plans to reintroduce cheetah in India at the consultative meeting on reintroduction of cheetah recently held at Bikaner in Rajasthan.
About reports suggesting that cheetah to be brought from a foreign country might be translocated in the wild of Madhya Pradesh, Ramesh said that such a suggestion was made at the meeting.
About the translocation of lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh, he said that he had already talked to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi twice on the issue.He had not agreed to give the Asiatic Lion of Gir Reserve to Madhya Pradesh, Ramesh said adding that now it is the turn of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to talk to his Gujarat counterpart on this issue.
The Madhya Pradesh forest has readied Kuno-Palpur sanctuary in Sheopur district for the translocation of lions at a cost of Rs 25 crore spread over an area of 330 sq kms, sources said.
