New Delhi, Sep 17: The arrival of eight Namibian cheetahs, the fastest-running animal on the planet, which went extinct in India in the early 1950s has sparked much joy for the country. The fact that it is being released in India on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday is a matter of great pride for many too.
Prime Minister Modi will release cheetahs in the heart of the country, in the Kuno National Park of Madhya Pradesh at 10.30 am for resettlement after a long gap of 70 years. The cheetah intercontinental translocation project is significant as it is taking place at a time when India has completed 75 years of its independence.
However, one question that is constantly plaguing this excitement is: Whether Cheetah, which went extinct due to hunting survives reintroduction and perhaps even thrive?
Experts are divided over the re-introduction plan with some anticipating few problems but remaining optimistic, while others call the plan premature.
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"The cheetah is a magnificent animal, it's a big magnet for ecotourism," Yadvendradev Jhala, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India told National Geographic.
"If you bring in cheetah, the government will put funds into rehabilitating and rewilding these systems, and all the biodiversity will thrive," he added.
Union minister Bhupender Yadav has called the Cheetah re-introduction plan bold and it serves the purpose of correcting an ecological wrong.
"The reintroduction of cheetah in India is a step towards correcting an ecological wrong and moving towards fulfilling our commitment towards Mission LiFE, a mantra given to the world by PM Modi," wrote Union minister Bhupender Yadav.
"We have been able to preserve several critical species and their ecosystems, including tigers, lions, Asiatic elephants, gharials and the one-horned rhinoceros, despite our surging population and developmental needs, Yadav said in his article published on The Economic Times.
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"With Project Tiger, Project Lion and Project Elephant, India has, over the last few years, also been able to increase the populations of these critically important species," Yadav wrote.
The Union Minister added that the tiger has served as a flagship and umbrella species of forest systems, and that the cheetah will fill the void for open forests, savannah and grasslands.
'Putting cart before horse', says Ullas Karanth
"I'm not against the project, I'm against this very tunnel vision thing of just bringing cheetahs and dumping them in the middle of India where there are 360 people per square kilometer," Ullas Karanth, emeritus director for the non-profit Center for Wildlife Studies and a specialist in large carnivores, told National Geographic.
"It's putting the cart before the horse," he added.
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Arjun Gopalaswamy, an independent conservation scientist who has conducted research on big cats in Africa and India pointed out that cheetahs in India "perished for a reason," human pressure which has only gotten worse in the 70 years since the species disappeared.
"So the first question is, Why is this attempt even being made?"
However, Jhala argued that this line of thinking misses the bigger picture as the project serves the real purpose of restoration and rewilding projects for the planet.