The Indian government tried to relocate the Lost Cheetahs in India from African countries but in recent past 8 of these cheetahs have died. When this project from initiated with the arrival of 8 cheetahs from Namibia then the hope of revival of the Cheetah population in India become significantly bright. India once enjoyed a big population of Cheetah but due to reckless hunting in 1952, we lost all the Cheetahs from India. So last year, India decided to reintroduce them to India at the Kuno national park situated in Madhya Pradesh. Later this year, India brought 12 more Cheetahs from South Africa.
If we combine the number of total cheetahs then 20 Cheetahs (including male and female) have come to India but 8 of them are no more. Therefore we are left with 12 cheetahs at present. It is a very important project for India to re-introduce Cheetahs back into Indian forests. From the initial stage, it was clear that this project is not going to be a smooth ride because introducing a specie to a totally different environment is not easy. Now Government of India has initiated steps to take action against these deaths so that they can be stopped in the future.
Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi is himself looking into this matter and he has asked forest department officials and scientists to stop more cheetahs from dying. So far, scientists have blamed the radio collars as the possible reason for the deaths of the cheetahs. I hope that our scientists and forest department are working hard to re-establish Cheetahs in India because if we succeeded then it will polish the image of India as an animal conservationist nation. So far, we can only pray for the well-being of the remaining cheetahs.
