<p>India will receive 12 more cheetahs from South Africa next month as the two nations have concluded an agreement on the translocation of spotted cats to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno Palpur national park, where they will join the animals that were brought from Namibia.</p>.<p>The plan is to bring a dozen cheetahs from South Africa every year over the next 8–10 years, in accordance with the Union environment and forest ministry’s plans to introduce African cheetahs in India to revive the cat population seven decades after the animals became extinct in India.</p>.<p>“An initial batch of 12 cheetahs will be flown from South Africa to India in February 2023. The cats will join eight cheetahs introduced to India from Namibia in 2022. Following the import in February, the plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years,” the Union environment and forest ministry said in a statement on Friday.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="http://Cheetahs brought from Namibia savour their first meal in India, appear playful Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/cheetahs-brought-from-namibia-savour-their-first-meal-in-india-appear-playful-1146388.html" target="_blank">Cheetahs brought from Namibia savour their first meal in India, appear playful</a></strong></p>.<p>The South African yearly import will be in addition to 4-8 animals coming from Namibia every year in the next five years.</p>.<p>The India-South Africa agreement happened at a time when the eight animals arrived in September and remained in enclosures more than four months after their arrival.</p>.<p>The animals are now in a larger enclosure where they hunt, but nevertheless, they are under the watch of forest officials instead of being in the wild.</p>.<p>One of the cheetahs is reportedly suffering from dehydration and kidney infections.</p>.<p>Expressing concerns about the health of the Namibian cheetahs, wildlife scientists said their prolonged captivity was greatly compromising<br />the welfare of individual cheetahs.</p>.<p>“In many cases, this period of captivity may render the cats unsuitable for release to be free-ranging,” said a scientist.</p>.<p><strong>Expensive distraction</strong></p>.<p>Even as the Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav described the agreement with South Africa as an “encouraging development for Project Cheetah and a matter of pride for nature lovers”, several experts outside the government noted that it was a hugely expensive distraction from India’s conservation priorities and a waste of scarce resources.</p>.<p>“The government of India’s decision to import cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa to introduce in Kuno, while not acting on the long-standing April 2013 order of the Supreme Court to translocate lions from Gir to Kuno which is a much higher conservation priority, smacks of impunity,” said veteran wildlife biologist Ravi Chellam, CEO of Metastring Foundation and Coordinator of Biodiversity Collaborative.</p>.<p>“The Cheetah Action Plan, on which this entire initiative is based, makes conservation claims that are not supported by facts, track records, or science,” he told DH.</p>
<p>India will receive 12 more cheetahs from South Africa next month as the two nations have concluded an agreement on the translocation of spotted cats to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno Palpur national park, where they will join the animals that were brought from Namibia.</p>.<p>The plan is to bring a dozen cheetahs from South Africa every year over the next 8–10 years, in accordance with the Union environment and forest ministry’s plans to introduce African cheetahs in India to revive the cat population seven decades after the animals became extinct in India.</p>.<p>“An initial batch of 12 cheetahs will be flown from South Africa to India in February 2023. The cats will join eight cheetahs introduced to India from Namibia in 2022. Following the import in February, the plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years,” the Union environment and forest ministry said in a statement on Friday.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="http://Cheetahs brought from Namibia savour their first meal in India, appear playful Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/cheetahs-brought-from-namibia-savour-their-first-meal-in-india-appear-playful-1146388.html" target="_blank">Cheetahs brought from Namibia savour their first meal in India, appear playful</a></strong></p>.<p>The South African yearly import will be in addition to 4-8 animals coming from Namibia every year in the next five years.</p>.<p>The India-South Africa agreement happened at a time when the eight animals arrived in September and remained in enclosures more than four months after their arrival.</p>.<p>The animals are now in a larger enclosure where they hunt, but nevertheless, they are under the watch of forest officials instead of being in the wild.</p>.<p>One of the cheetahs is reportedly suffering from dehydration and kidney infections.</p>.<p>Expressing concerns about the health of the Namibian cheetahs, wildlife scientists said their prolonged captivity was greatly compromising<br />the welfare of individual cheetahs.</p>.<p>“In many cases, this period of captivity may render the cats unsuitable for release to be free-ranging,” said a scientist.</p>.<p><strong>Expensive distraction</strong></p>.<p>Even as the Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav described the agreement with South Africa as an “encouraging development for Project Cheetah and a matter of pride for nature lovers”, several experts outside the government noted that it was a hugely expensive distraction from India’s conservation priorities and a waste of scarce resources.</p>.<p>“The government of India’s decision to import cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa to introduce in Kuno, while not acting on the long-standing April 2013 order of the Supreme Court to translocate lions from Gir to Kuno which is a much higher conservation priority, smacks of impunity,” said veteran wildlife biologist Ravi Chellam, CEO of Metastring Foundation and Coordinator of Biodiversity Collaborative.</p>.<p>“The Cheetah Action Plan, on which this entire initiative is based, makes conservation claims that are not supported by facts, track records, or science,” he told DH.</p>
