Nine-member Cheetah task force
Recently the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has constituted a Cheetah Task Force.
Its objective is to monitor the resettlement of cheetahs in the Kuno National Park and other suitable designated areas of Madhya Pradesh.
Recently, 5 female and 3 male cheetahs from Namibia were brought to the Kuno National Park.
The Task Force has been entrusted with the following tasks-
- Review, progress, and monitor the health status of cheetahs;
- Monitoring the hunting skills and adaptations of the cheetahs to the environment;
- Establish regular contact with cheetah friends and local communities to raise awareness.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) will facilitate the functioning of the Cheetah Task Force. It will provide all necessary assistance.
NTCA is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It has been constituted under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Importance of Cheetah Rehabilitation-
- This will help in preventing the degradation and rapid loss of biodiversity.
- Bringing back an apex predator would restore historical evolutionary balance. As a result of this, different levels of the ecosystem can have a wide range of impacts.
- By resettling the cheetah, we will be able to save its prey base (of which some species are on the verge of extinction). At the same time, other endangered species of grasslands and open forest ecosystems will also be able to be saved.
Source – The Hindu
