Prime Minister Modi to launch cheetah restoration project on birthday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the cheetah restoration project on his birthday on September 17 when he would release the spotted cats imported from Africa into the wild of Madhya Pradesh.
This was revealed by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to his ministerial colleagues before a cabinet meeting in Bhopal. A video of the meeting has been uploaded in the official twitter handle of the Chief Minister.
Chouhan told his ministerial colleagues that the Prime Minister would arrive at the Kuno national park on September 17, which is also the PM's birthday, to launch the ambitious cheetah introduction project. He would also address a women self-help group programme in Sheopur district.
The Union Environment Ministry didn’t provide any clarification on the Chief Minister’s announcement.
So far eight animals from Namibia and 12 from South Africa have been identified. The animals have been vaccinated and they are in quarantine. An MoU with Namibia has been signed and a similar agreement with South Africa is expected soon. The ministry wants to import 32 animals in the long run.
The plan, according to sources in the Union Environment Ministry, is to bring the animals by chartered flight to Jaipur or Gwalior airport and from there they would be lifted to Kuno by helicopter.
Officials said at least seven helipads were being constructed in and around the national park for the expected movements.
The ministry had stated that the two main objectives of the cheetah reintroduction programme is to establish a breeding cheetah population in safe habitats across its historical range, and to use the predator as a flagship species to restore the open forest and savanna systems.
The critics, however, contradicted the government on both, observing that more scientific and inexpensive options were available to conserve the grassland and importing African cheetahs would only delay the translocation of Asiatic lions from Gir to Kuno, as was ordered by the Supreme Court in accordance with India’s conservation priorities.