Plan for cheetah relocation in India

GAJNER (Rajasthan): Cheetah experts from across the world are congregating here tomorrow to discuss the strategy to translocate the fastest animal on earth here in a bid to repopulate the species which was last seen in the country in the 1960s.

"It is an attempt to reintroduce the animal here on the line of tiger relocation plan. We need to do a feasibility study and, if convinced, we will certainly give a go-ahead. Since Iran has already refused to part its animal, we will approach South Africa which has abundant of the species," union environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who will inaugurate the workshop, said

Cheetah experts from Iran, South Africa, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) besides Wildlife Trust of India which has conceived the animal relocation plan will attend the workshop.

Unlike their Asiatic cousins, African cheetahs stalk prey in semi-arid and partially forested grasslands.

Experts hope their introduction will encourage better husbandry in the areas such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Big cat specialist M. K. Ranjitsinh, the chairman of WTI, said "suitable habitats are abundant in India but are being managed terribly. The cheetah could be an important symbol, a lever to help protect even rarer species in the same areas."

The plan is the brain child of Ranjitsinh and Divyabhanu Chawda and if given the go-ahead by the Environment Ministry Gajner sanctuary might have Cheetah by next year.