With the Madhya Pradesh Government all set to get its share of lions from Gujarat, the latter is now eyeing import of cheetahs from Namibia in its grasslands of Banni and Kalo Dungar.
After the Supreme Court recently rejected the curative petition filed by the Gujarat Government and directed the translocation of lions to Kuno Palpur, Environment Ministry filed a petition in the Apex Court seeking a review of its order pertaining to importing Cheetahs to India from Africa.
The MP Forest Department after getting green signal from the Apex Court is wasting no time to initiate its lion translocation programme. Sources said that it is even unwilling to wait for the Central financing and has decided to use its own resources to expedite the translocation of the lions in its Kuno Palpur sanctuary.
An official from the MP forest department informed, “Though we have sent the proposal for funds to the Centre, MP government will spend the required money to make Palpur-Kuno an appropriate home for lions. lot of work has already been done and now we are readying for the rehabilitation of the two villages that would get displaced when lions come to the national park.”
However, even if Gujarat has no choice but to let go some of its lions, MoEF is trying to get the permission of Supreme Court to get Cheetahs in Gujarat. The SC order of April 14, 2013, which in one part had upheld lion relocation in Kuno Palpur from Gir, had quashed the reintroduction of Cheetahs in its other part in the same sanctuary in MP.
Sources further added that the Ministry has gone in for the review of the order only for the Cheetah reintroduction part especially after the Rajasthan government had already declined taking up the project.
The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has prepared a Rs 260-crore project for Cheetah reintroduction. Nauradehi in MP, along with Banni in Gujarat, are some of the areas under consideration if the Supreme Court permits the import.
According to experts from WII, Cheetahs need open spaces. They are comfortable in grasslands and Banni seems to be well-suited as their habitat. The grasslands also include the Kalo Dungar area, which has a good number of jackals.
They said Banni has a prey base of 14 animals per sq km. If the government decides to give cheetahs to Gujarat, the forest department would immediately start breeding chital ,sambhar and deer in the area to increase the prey base. Cheetahs need a prey base of around 30 animals per sq km.
However sources from the Cheetah Reintroduction Group pointed out that a major challenge in Banni is the profuse growth of a wild weed called Prosopis Juliflora which covers large parts of the area. Removing the weed would be a major challenge for Gujarat forest department.