{"id":37737,"date":"2025-02-20T19:20:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T13:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=37737"},"modified":"2025-03-06T15:58:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T10:28:57","slug":"concern-over-moving-african-cheetahs-to-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/20-02-2025\/concern-over-moving-african-cheetahs-to-india","title":{"rendered":"Concern Over Moving African Cheetahs to India: Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Environment and Conservation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A new study by the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS), has expressed concern over the translocation of the African cheetahs to India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The study examines the <strong>ethical, ecological and welfare challenges <\/strong>associated with the translocation of African cheetahs to India.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Project Cheetah Overview<\/strong>: 20 African cheetahs (8 from Namibia in Sept 2022, and 12 from South Africa in Feb 2023) were introduced into Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Importation Plans<\/strong>: Plans to import 12 cheetahs annually until a viable population is established.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Major Highlights&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Challenges Faced by Cheetahs<\/strong>: The cheetahs have experienced significant stress, with over 90 immobilisations and frequent veterinary care.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The mortality rate was 40%-50% in the first phase of the project, far below the expected survival rate of 85%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The project has raised concerns about the physical and mental health of the cheetahs due to their ongoing stress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Challenges of the Project:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Conservation Challenges<\/strong>: African cheetah populations are already at risk, with only around 6,500 mature individuals left in the wild.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sustainability Issues<\/strong>: Reliance on continuous imports from Africa is seen as ecologically unsustainable and ethically problematic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Cheetah<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus),<\/strong> is one of the world\u2019s most-recognizable cats, known especially for its speed. In India, the cheetah population used to be fairly widespread.<br>&#8211; The cheetah is believed to have <strong>disappeared from the Indian landscape in 1947<\/strong> when Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya princely state hunted down and shot the last three recorded Asiatic cheetahs in India.\u00a0<br>1. The cheetah was officially<strong> declared extinct <\/strong>by the Indian government in <strong>1952.<\/strong><br>&#8211; Since the 1940s, the cheetah has gone extinct in 14 other countries \u2013 Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, Syria, Oman, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Ghana, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.<br><br><strong>Reason for Extinction<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Over-hunting<\/strong> was a major contributing factor.<br>&#8211; The decimation of its relatively<strong> narrow prey<\/strong> base species and\u00a0<br>&#8211; The<strong> loss of its grassland-forest habitat.<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Difference between Asiatic Cheetah and African Cheetah<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Asiatic Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus)<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>African Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>IUCN status<\/strong>: critically endangered.<\/td><td><strong>IUCN status:<\/strong> vulnerable.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Distribution: <\/strong>Less than 50 cheetahs are left in the wild.<\/td><td><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> Around 6,500-7,000 African cheetahs are present in the wild.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Characteristics: <\/strong>Smaller and paler than the African cheetah.<\/td><td><strong>Characteristics:<\/strong> They are bigger in size as compared to Asiatic Cheetah.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Suggestions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Call for Justice-Informed Approach<\/strong>: Researchers advocate for a more inclusive and participatory conservation model, considering diverse knowledge systems, values, and local consent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Focus on Sustainable Coexistence<\/strong>: Conservation efforts should aim at maintaining sustainable spaces for both humans and wildlife, rather than causing division and distress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/new-study-expresses-concern-over-translocation-of-african-cheetahs-to-india\/article69238011.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study by the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS), has expressed concern over the translocation of the African cheetahs to India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37737"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38602,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37737\/revisions\/38602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}