12-14 more Cheetahs will call India 'home': Govt

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his 72nd birthday on September 17, had released eight cheetahs flown in from Namibia into KNP setting the ball rolling for revival of their population in India.

New Delhi, Dec 22: After the successful translocation of eight cheetahs to India, the government is working with South Africa and Namibia to bring more cheetahs over the years, Minister of State Environment AK Choubey informed Rajya Sabha.

"As per the Action Plan for the introduction of Cheetahs, every year depending upon the availability of animals and status of introduced Cheetahs, 12 to 14 individuals proposed to be brought from South Africa and Namibia or other African countries during the next 5 years," the minister said.

"There are no Cheetahs under quarantine, all eight Cheetahs have been released in larger acclimatisation enclosures. No health complications have been reported in the introduced Cheetahs," he added.

"Under 'Project Tiger' scheme, Rs 38.7 crore allocated for 5 years besides funding support of Rs 29.47 crore under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) includes the cost of Cheetah introduction, management, and maintenance," the minister said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his 72nd birthday on September 17, had released eight cheetahs flown in from Namibia into KNP with a lot of fanfare, setting the ball rolling for revival of their population in India where these distinctively spotted cat species became extinct seven decades ago.
These wild animals from Namibia - five females and three males - are currently in hunting enclosures at the park before their full release in the wild.

The last cheetah in India died in Koriya district in present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947, and the species was declared extinct from the country in 1952.

The government has launched an action plan under which 50 of these big cats will be introduced in the next five years.

India is now working with South Africa to bring more such big cats in batches from there.