Wild Proposition

Due to the rampant hunting habits of the erstwhile rulers of the royal era and British Raj, India has gradually lost its population of wild big cats like Lion, Tigers and Cheetah. But, thanks to the conservation initiatives of the Indian Government, the first two magnificent animals of the wild have survived.

But, the same fate is not repeated in the case of Cheetah. Famed as the fastest animal in the world, Cheetah has completely extinct from the lush green canopies of India in over 1000 years. Now, the Indian government has realized its importance and decided to take some concrete steps so that they can change the scenario.

Mr. Jairam Ramesh, the Minister for Environment and Forests, has come up with an exhilarating new idea. He has planned to import Cheetahs from Africa and reintroduce them to the Indian jungles. The suggestions for this plan was given by Wild Trust Of India and also by some wildlife experts. It is believed that this plan will help to repopulate Indian jungles with this fastest animal of world.

The Minister has admitted that it will take some time to implement this plan as the international protocols are very complicated. Yet he is hopeful about this idea.

But some wildlife experts has criticized this plan on the basis of the prior experience of the transfer of Tigers from one Indian state to another. Also India has a very poor wildlife management system which can be a major hindrance for concertizing this idea. The infrastructure of civil servants and forest officials is not at all sufficient to guard these magnificent beasts. Despite the various reserves created by the Indian government for the Tigers, the national animal of India is still in mortal danger from poachers.

All this has raised many eyebrows regarding the issue of import of Cheetah from Africa in India. There are some other questions required to be answered before proceeding to the plan such as will African Cheetahs able to adjust itself with the Indian environment? Or Whether any country would agree to export Cheetahs to India when there is only 10, 000 Cheetahs remained in the entire world.

So, according to many wildlife experts , it will be better to have a concrete plan and strong conservation management system before proceeding to such ambitious plan.