Second batch of cheetahs arrive at Kuno
The second batch of 12 cheetahs arrived at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, as part of Project Cheetah, from South Africa on February 18. The first batch, comprising three males and five females, had arrived from Namibia last September; they were formally released into the wild by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The new batch includes seven males and five females. Therefore, currently, there are 10 male and 10 female cheetahs.
The last Asiatic cheetahs seen officially were in a dead state, when Maharajah Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Surguja State, Madhya Pradesh displayed three dead males as trophies in 1948—killed while they were sitting together at night.
More are expected in the future, for which the government has signed agreements. The government is hoping that the experiment will be successful.
While several scientists have criticised the project, saying it’s nothing more than an exercise in vanity, several others have supported the move, saying that it’s not an end in itself but a means to an end— the spotted cats play an important role as an umbrella species, meaning them can conserve the larger ecosystem and landscape.
