Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has constituted a Task Force for monitoring Cheetah introduction in Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh and other suitable designated areas.
- The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) would facilitate the working of Cheetah Task Force and render all necessary help.
- The Task Force shall be in-force for a period of two years.
- This task force may appoint a subcommittee to regularly visit the Cheetah introduction area as and when decided by them.
The Task Force has been constituted to:
- Review, progress and monitor the health status of Cheetah.
- Monitor hunting skills and adaptation of Cheetahs to the habitat of Kuno National Park.
- Monitor release of Cheetah from Quarantine bomas to soft release enclosures and then to grass land and open forest areas.
- Open Cheetah habitat for eco-tourism and suggest regulations in this regard.
- Suggest and advice on development of tourism infrastructure in the fringe areas of Kuno National Park and other Protected Areas.
- Regularly interact with Cheetah mitras and local communities for their awareness raising and also involvement in protection of Cheetahs in particular & area in general.
Benefits of Cheetah restoration
- Cheetah restoration is part of a prototype or model for restoration of original cheetah habitats and their biodiversity.
- This will help to stem the degradation and rapid loss of biodiversity. Bringing back a top predator restores historic evolutionary balance resulting in cascading effects on various levels of the eco-system.
- Bringing the cheetah back is expected to have important conservation ramifications.
- The cheetah has been the evolutionary natural selection force that has shaped the adaptation of high speeds in Indian antelopes and gazelles.
- By restoring cheetah, we would also be able to save not only its prey base comprising certain threatened species, but also other endangered species of the grasslands / open forest eco-systems, some of which are on the brink of extinction.
