The Supreme Court lifted its seven-year stay on a proposal to introduce African cheetahs from Namibia into the Indian habitat on an experimental basis. The plan was to revive the Indian cheetah population.

Asiatic cheetahs in India

• In 1947, Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh of Deoghar of Koriya, Chhattisgarh — who was infamous for shooting over 1,150 tigers — reportedly killed the last known Asiatic cheetah in India.
• In that year, a few miles from Ramgarh village in the state, the Maharaja killed three of the animals — brothers — during a night drive.
• After that, the Maharaja’s kin continued to report the presence of a few stragglers in the forests of Surguja district, including a pregnant female, up until the late 1960s.
• Some more unconfirmed sightings were reported in 1951 and 1952, from the Orissa-Andhra Pradesh border and Chittoor district.
• The latter sighting is generally accepted to be the final credible sighting of a cheetah in India. In 1952, the cheetah was officially declared extinct from India.

African cheetah and Asiatic cheetah

• Before Namibia, India had approached Iran for Asiatic cheetahs, but had been refused.
• The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
• From 400 in the 1990s, their numbers are estimated to have plummetted to 50-70 today, because of poaching, hunting of their main prey (gazelles) and encroachment on their habitat.
• ‘Critically endangered’ means that the species faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

Why does NTCA want to reintroduce cheetahs?

• A section of conservationists has long advocated the reintroduction of the species in the country.
• Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognised as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
• The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
• India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.

Why was the project halted?

• The court was also worried whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favourable clime as far as abundance of prey is concerned.
• Those who challenged the plan argued that the habitat of cheetahs needed to support a genetically viable population.

What did court say?

• The Supreme Court made it clear that a proper survey should be done to identify the best possible habitat for the cheetahs.
• Every effort should be taken to ensure that they adapt to the Indian conditions.
• The committee would help, advice and monitor the NTCA on these issues. The action of the introduction of the animal would be left to the NTCA’s discretion.

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