Environment ministry plans to release two cheetahs into the wild by October end; completes dolphin census

New Delhi: Within the next two weeks, the Union environment ministry plans to release two cheetahs into the wild at Kuno National Park once again, even as talks are going on with Kenya and South Africa for the import of the third batch of African cheetahs next year, officials said here on Monday.

The ministry also is scouting for a site in Sikkim for the maiden release of snow leopards, bred in captivity in Darjeeling zoo, and has concluded the first ever census of the Gangetic dolphin, but will take some time to release the report.

“We currently have 24 cheetahs in the enclosures. By October end, they will be released in the wild. Two South African cheetahs, Vayu and Agni, will be released first,” an official said.

Since their high-profile release in a quarantine zone at Kuno National Park by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the animals spent most of their time in the enclosures in the last two years raising concerns among conservationists. The last free-ranging cheetah Pawan died in August.

Ahead of their planned release, the ministry held a workshop recently with forest officials of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to train them on monitoring the cats if they escape the territory of Kuno and enter other forest divisions spanning an area of 6,000 sq km.

Preparations are on to ready the Gandhi Sagar sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh for the next batch of cheetahs for which talks are on with Kenya and South Africa. An Indian delegation is likely to visit Kenya in the next couple of weeks.

Officials said they were on the look out for a suitable site in Sikkim for the release of snow leopards, raised in captivity by the Darjeeling zoo, in the wild.

This comes in the wake of a success by the same zoo with red pandas as last year, three captive pandas were released into their natural habitat where they mated with their wild counterparts and gave birth to offspring. “This is a conservation success recognised internationally,” said an official.

Also the first census of riverine dolphins in the Ganga, Brahmaputra, and Indus river systems have been completed and its findings will be released soon. The population estimate was conducted for two years in 8,000 km of river stretches.

The famous river dolphin is found in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system and its tributaries spanning across India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. A small population of the Indus river dolphin, a close relative of the Ganges river dolphin, is also found in India.

Once the baseline data on dolphin population is released, the ministry plans a population estimate of marine dolphins focussing on ecologically sensitive areas. The census is a part of Project Dolphin that the government launched in 2020.