Skip to main content

250 Chital Deer Herded In Madhya Pradesh Forest For Cheetahs: Official

250 Chital Deer Herded In Madhya Pradesh Forest For Cheetahs: Official

The official said that 500 more chital deer will be placed in the enclosure for the cheetah to prey on.

Bhopal:

The Forest department has herded 250 chital or spotted deer as the prey into the enclosure meant for cheetahs being brought to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno-Palpur National Park (KNP) from Africa shortly, a senior official said on Monday.

In a related development, India is close to signing agreements with the government of South Africa and private players there to buy some cheetahs costing around USD 3,000 to 4,000 from some game reserves in SA, according to officials.

India had last month signed an MoU with the Namibian government for procuring the cheetahs in the KNP under the ambitious reintroduction project.

"We have put more than 250 chitals (spotted deer or axis deer) in the 'soft release enclosure' meant to acclimatize the cheetahs at the KNP," MP Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) J S Chauhan told PTI.

The chital deer have been brought from the Pench Tiger Reserve and the Wildlife Sanctuary of Narsinghgarh in MP, he said.

He said 500 more chital deer will be placed in the enclosure for the cheetah to prey on. Preparations are on to provide a good environment to the cheetahs given the fact that these mammals are coming to India from far off Africa and would be stressed and fatigued after such a long journey.

"The cheetahs will be kept in the acclimatisation 'soft release enclosure' spread over 5 sq km for two to three months before being released into the wild," Mr Chauhan said.

Another official said India is close to signing agreements with the government of South Africa (SA) and private game reserves in that country for procuring more cheetahs.

"We are also going to buy some cheetahs costing around USD 3,000 to 4,000 from private game reserves in SA," he said.

The official said most of the cheetahs are being donated for the KNP project.

"We have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Namibian government for the import of cheetahs. In Namibia, the wildlife is under the direct control of the government like in India. In SA, the government and private players control the wildlife. Efforts are underway to ink agreements with private game reserves in SA and the government of that country for procuring more cheetahs," he said. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dean Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala reached Johannesburg on Saturday in connection with the KNP cheetah reintroduction project.

When asked about his return schedule, he told PTI that his "return ticket has not been booked yet".

Queried about when the cheetahs will reach India, Mr Jhala said he didn't know.

"The government will take a call on it," he added amid speculation that the cheetahs may reach India by August 13.

Twelve cheetahs, including four to five females, have been vaccinated and quarantined for a month as part of preparations to airlift them to India, officials had said.

The KNP is spread over 750 square kilometres in MP's Chambal region.

Cheetahs went extinct in India in 1952 and the reintroduction project is now in its final stages with a few big cats set to be housed in KNP after being brought in from the southern parts of Africa.

The last cheetah in India died in 1947 in the Korea district in present-day Chhattisgarh, which was part of MP then, and the species was declared extinct in 1952.

The 'African Cheetah Introduction Project in India' was conceived in 2009 and a plan to introduce the big cat by November last year in KNP suffered a setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The KNP has a good prey base for cheetahs. Experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) are also okay with the choice of the area. MP was home to cheetahs earlier. Moreover, it has a good translocation record as tigers were successfully reintroduced in Panna in 2009," officials added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/PAv6ROw https://ift.tt/NhCfc91
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...

18-Year-Old Killed By Friends Over Mobile Game Password In Bengal: Cops

According to cops, accused "friends" attempted to burn the victim after killing him. (Representational) Kolkata: An argument over sharing the password of an online mobile game allegedly led to the murder of a teenage boy by four of his friends in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said. The body of 18-year-old Papai Das, who had been missing since January 8, was discovered near Nishindra Ghat of the feeder canal in Farakka on Monday, police said. Papai, a class 10 student, was reportedly killed by his four "close" friends after a disagreement over sharing the password for a mobile online game. The accused individuals have been arrested, police added. "These five individuals used to play online games at one of the quarters of the Farakka Barrage. The victim went out on the evening of January 8 and never returned. On January 9, the family lodged a police complaint. "Based on preliminary investigations, we discovered that...

"Jaiswal Has Run Ahead Of Gill": Ex-India Star's Massive T20 WC Verdict

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has suggested that Yashasvi Jaiswal is slightly ahead of Shubman Gill in the pecking order as captain Rohit Sharma's partner at the top in T20Is. Since making his debut last year, Jaiswal has been in stunning form in the shortest format of the game. Gill's form, on the other hand, has dipped since the ODI World Cup last year in India. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, Chopra feels Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit during the tournament. "It's clear that Yashasvi Jaiswal has run ahead of Shubman Gill. Yashasvi is ahead in the two-horse race, Gill is lagging slightly behind. Gill was played in the first match, dropped in the second, and wasn't played in the third as well," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. Jaiswal helped India beat Afghanistan in the second T20I earlier this week, scoring a quickfire fifty. Considering his recent form across formats, Chopra emphasised that Jaiswal has ...