Cheering For The Cheetahs
Click Here https://bytlly.com/2sVNVr
A day after eight Cheetahs arrived in India from Namibia, the executive director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund - who coordinated the translocation of the big cats - has said that the country will see its figure rising in coming years. Speaking to news agency ANI, Laurie Marker said: Since its extinction, you can only get animals from somewhere else. This is the only population of cheetahs actually large enough to use for reintroduction and to establish a population, we must bring in more. India is working with South Africa for more and Namibia is also going to send more over the years."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday released eight Cheetahs in the Kuno National Park of Madhya Pradesh. Out of the total eight, five cheetahs are female, between two and five years of age, and three are males between 4.5 and 5.5 years of age.
After releasing cheetahs, extinct in India for seven decades, in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park on his 72nd birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the felines' reintroduction would be a blessing for the region. Residents of the district, however, have little to cheer, as ground realities indicate they will keep struggling after the celebrations die down.
NDTV travelled to Kakra, one such village located between Shivpuri and Sheopur. What we saw never appeared in national media. It has been claimed that big changes will transform the area now that the big cats have a home there. Even if that is true, wildlife experts estimate it'll take at least 20-25 years for these changes to happen. A large population of cheetahs might pull tourists here, creating new opportunities and affecting social change. However, the near future remains bleak, when state intervention is required urgently.
Villagers said there's no job opportunities and extreme poverty there. Children are malnourished. When asked if cheetahs being released would benefit them, they said they have nothing to gain from it. "Their arrival will not make any difference to our situation," they said. 2b1af7f3a8