Govt gears up for African Cheetah Project

Staff Reporter

Madhya Pradesh Forest Department geared up to bring African Cheetah in India’s Kunopalpur National Park with the help of Qatar Airlines.

Sources said that Qatar Airlines has given its consent to translocate the Cheetah from African country to India’s Delhi airport. Officials of Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi have already visited countries in South Africa to bring the spotted cat.

District Forest Officer (DFO) P K Verma, Kuno Forest Circle Sheopur, said that Centre has sent proposal to Namibian Government for signing the MoU. Cheetah will be brought to India with the help of Qatar Airlines free of cost. In first phase, India will get 12 Cheetahs free of cost. There will be no charge for the spotted cat. For second and third phase of translocation, India will be paying consolidated amount in exchange of animal and transportation. Sources said that Indian Oil Corporation is funding the project with Rs 100 crore.

Cheetah Project of Madhya Pradesh Forest Department is being delayed for various reasons. When team visited Namibia to discuss the plan of Cheetah translocation, African Government said its officials to make assessment of habitat in India Kunopalpur before signing the MoU. African Government has also sent its proposal with certain conditions for the translocation to India. Concerned MoU will sign up by both countries after fulfilling the terms and conditions.

Officials and scientists team from India discussed the plan to bring the spotted cat from Endangered Wildlife NGO. The NGO has lots of Cheetah and it is ready to give the cat to India after approval of African Government.

Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has proposed to bring 14 to 18 Cheetahs in first phase. The special enclosures are ready to keep the spotted cat for six months. Officials said that planning has been made to start the translocation process in last week of April and first week of May. Sources said that proposal is there to sing contract for 35 to 40 Cheetahs in India in different phases. In five years, cheetah will be brought to India in several phases and they will be relocated to different states of India. After signing the contract with Namibian Government, translocation

translocation process would begin. Another team of forest officials will be visiting Namibia by the end of April for the project. In this team national park director, veterinary doctor and other field staff will be present to learn the monitoring trick of spotted cat. The team will be taking training in Namibia. After that a team of experts from Namibia would be visiting Madhya Pradesh for six months. In order to manage the stress level of Cheetah after travelling in airways, experts’ team will be visiting the State. The team will be training forest staff of Kunopalpur for stress management in spotted cat. Cheetah will be kept in special enclosure for six months to reduce the stress level. Regular monitoring will be done to check their health status in enclosure.

PCCF (Wildlife) J S Chauhan and his team had returned to Madhya Pradesh after week-long visit to Namibia to learn the behaviour and protocols of cheetah. It would cost around Rs 75 crore for maintenance of Cheetah in five years.