New Delhi: The Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday gave green signal to reintroduce cheetah in three locations in the country. The project will cost around Rs 300 crore in the first year itself and will also displace over 100 settlements.
Ahmedabad: The Wildlife Institute of India and Wildlife Trust of India have recommended Kuno Palpur as a possible site for reintroduction of cheetah. Banni Grasslands and Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat have lost in the race for reintroduction of cheetah.
A Group of Experts has submitted a detailed assessment of the potential for reintroducing the cheetah in India, recommending three potential sites for reintroduction. The cheetah, which is a flagship specie of the deciduous dryland/grassland ecosystem, became extinct in India in the 1960s. The word "cheetah" derived from the sanskrit word citrak?yah.
Globally, a majority of people including Indians are not aware that India has wild lions. The tiger, which replaced the lion as the national animal in the early 1970s, does hog the headlines and therefore has a much stronger link to India and an overwhelming presence in public conscience.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi made out emotion pitch against giving some Gir lions to Madhya Pradesh lions in his first ever official statement on the issue.
Ahmedabad: The MP government has reportedly stated that if an average of 10 lions die unnaturally in Gir every year, then there is no harm in Gujarat government parting with five lions for its Kuno Palpur project.
AHMEDABAD: For hundreds of years now, this lion-faced state has been a natural abode of the jungle king. Lions were hunted in large numbers in northern and western India in 19th century. Gir was their last refuge because the Gujaratis protected them.
