Cheetahs Reintroduce Project

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

On a modified B-747 that took off from Windhoek, Namibia, for Gwalior on Friday, are eight Namibian wild cheetahs five females, three males would-be founders of a new population in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

As translocation gained currency as a conservation tool (as well as for boosting hunting stock or tourism), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a union of governments and civil society organisations, in 1995 came up with a guideline which has been updated since.

Genetic diversity: It is often difficult to find genetically suitable animals, particularly for building a new population, when the source population itself is closely related. This can lead to inbreeding depression in the new population.

Habitat and prey base: The factors that caused a species to lose numbers or go extinct must be dealt with to secure the habitat, before restocking so that colonies of reintroduced animals become large enough as quickly as possible to withstand fluctuations in both the environment and population size, experts say. Physical security, enough space, and ample food are the priorities.

Landscape viability: Simply releasing and moving animals between pocket forests can at best halt further habitat fragmentation in the name of a charismatic species. Even if such assisted exchanges succeed in ensuring genetic viability, animals will remain susceptible to demographic and environmental events in such a broken landscape.

Curbing the cats’ homing instincts: risks from losing the released animal from the target site and human-animal conflict.

Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh:

• Established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary in the Sheopur and Morena districts.
• In 2018, it was given the status of a national park. It is part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests eco region.
• Area of 344.686 km2
• Fauna: Indian leopard, jungle cat, sloth bear, dhole, Indian wolf, golden jackal, striped hyena, and Bengal fox, chital, Sambar deer, nilgai, four-horned antelope, chinkara, blackbuck and wild boar