Asiatic Cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus venaticus once ranged over India, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, and the Middle East grasslands. And now these wild cats are endangered because of environmental causes like desertification and bounty hunting by humans.
India’s second attempt to bring this breed to our land has finally culminated in a deal with Namibia which will send 50 cheetahs over five years and India will house them at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
Before the country even laid out a law (Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960) to prevent poaching, hunting, and cruelty to animals, the Asiatic Cheetah was already wiped off the map, killed by local Maharajas and British officials for sport. Not many are aware of the extinction of cheetahs from our heartland despite being highly adaptive creatures.
Government action on wildlife other than Cheetah
India’s population has been estimated to only increase in the coming decades. It has inversely affected the wildlife population of our country. With an increasing number of people per square kilometer, the rise of concrete housing parks has replaced nature parks. Accommodating and feeding a large population certainly depletes natural resources and habitat. As wildlife habitats become scarce, the prey species automatically decline, the scarcity of which endangers predator species as well.
India’s attempt to retrieve the fastest animal on earth to its former glory minus the hunt, while laudable, wildlife recovery won’t be enough. Directive of a larger conversation that needs to exist with a focus on the management of the human population, reducing our carbon footprint, and sustainable landscape evolvement in an attempt to create a cohabitation than the competition. The need of the hour requires the governance to innovate wildlife conservation policies and establish a state-centric conservation model which includes more than just law enforcement.
Now that the wild cat is out of the bag we better toe the line with nature itself.
Read more: What drove the charismatic cheetah to extinction in India?
The impending environmental crisis
