Text & Context: Project Cheetah, a year on
CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2023
Text & Context: Project Cheetah, a year on
The first batch of eight cheetahs from Namibia arrived on September 17, 2022, officially launching Project Cheetah. In total 20 adult cheetahs have been imported so far. Six of the cheetahs have died, four while still in captivity and two in the wild.
The goal of the introduction of African cheetahs is to "establish viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator and provides space for the expansion of cheetah within its historical range", thereby contributing to conservation efforts.
The Cheetah Action Plan, published last year, lists 6 short-term success criteria:
• survival of 50% of the introduced cheetahs for the first year
• establishment of home ranges in the Kuno N.P.
• successful cheetah reproduction in the wild
• survival of wild-born cheetah cubs past one year
• successful first-generation breeding
• cheetah-based revenues contributing to community livelihoods
A government report released on Project Cheetah's anniversary noted that 4 out of the 6 criteria have been successfully met.
• IUCN status-
African Cheetah: Vulnerable
Asiatic Cheetah: Critically Endangered
Cheetah in India was declared to have gone extinct in 1952.