Supreme Court allowed NTCA to introduce African cheetah in India

The Supreme Court has lifted its seven-year stay on a proposal to introduce African cheetahs from Namibia into the Indian habitat on an experimental basis.

The Court also set up a three-member committee, comprising former Director Wildlife of India Ranjit Singh, Director General of Wildlife of India Dhananjay Mohan and Deputy Inspector General, Wildlife, Ministry of Environment and Forests to guide the NTCA in taking a decision on the issue.

Reasons for Delay?

• In May 2012, the top court had stalled the plan to initiate the foreign cheetahs into the Palpur Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, fearing that they may come into conflict with a parallel and a much-delayed project to reintroduce lions into the same sanctuary.
• The court was also worried whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favourable climate as far as an abundance of prey is concerned.

About Asiatic Cheetah

• The word ‘cheetah’ is derived from the Sanskrit chitraka, which means ‘spotted’. The earliest visual evidence of the Asiatic cheetah, dating back to 2500 to 2300 BCE, is found in cave paintings in Kharvai and Khairabad, and in the upper Chambal valley, in Madhya Pradesh.
• The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
• In 1947, Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh of Deoghar of Koriya, Chhattisgarh reportedly killed the last known Asiatic cheetah in India. In 1952, the cheetah was officially declared extinct from India.
• Cheetahs are an endangered species, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
• The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
• Only 7,100 cheetahs are left in the wild, almost all of them in Africa.

Conservation Status:

• The cheetah has been classified as endangered by the IUCN.
• It is listed under Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

PAPER-I