BHOPAL: An Indian delegation will finally leave for Namibia to finalise the modalities of the first-ever inter-continental translocation of cheetah.
This official visit to South Africa and Namibia was postponed last year because of the Omicron outbreak, which has pushed back the project.
The delegation comprising five officials, two of them from MP, will leave on February 17. During the week -long visit, they will visit the cheetah conservation project of Namibia.
The two officials from Madjhya Pradesh are principal secretary (forest) Ashok Barnwal and principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) JS Chouhan. The others in the team are officials from the ministry of forest and environment, National tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
Cheetahs were scheduled to have been transported from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno Palpur sanctuary in Sheopur in November last year. But now cheetah pugmarks may be seen in India only towards the end of 2022.
“We will finalise the modalities and a timeline for cheetah translocation,” Barnwal told TOI, adding that the training schedule of field staff will also be finalized. “After their translocation, the cheetahs will be acclimatized in Kuno and trained field staff are required to handle them,” he said.
In January this year, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said his ministry was preparing to translocate the first batch of eight cheetahs from South Africa and Namibia to Kuno National Park. A total of 50 will be shifted to various parks over a period of five years. Yadav noted that the plan was to reintroduce cheetahs in 2021, but the Covid-19 third wave delayed it. The country is likely to get 12 to 15 cheetahs from South Africa and Namibia by the end of this year.
