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Showing posts from June, 2023

Future Tense For Cute Cheetah Cubs of Kuno

  Kuno National park released two short documentaries with beautiful pictures of cheetah cubs and their mothers.The cute cheetah cubs in the moving pictures  attract eyeballs. Cheetah siblings playing in the lush green grasslands after monsoon in Kuno fascinate all and sundry. For record, in the last 24 months, the same number of cheetahs survived- 12 adult cheetahs of the original 20 airlifted from Africa – Namibia and South Africa- and 12 of the 17 cubs born in Kuno. As the Union ministry of Environment ,Forest  and Climate Change (MoEFC&C) celebrates the “two successful years of the cheetah project in Kuno”, lo and behold, all the cheetahs are still in captivity and none of them are free ranging so far.What  is the future of these cubs . Their future  is  linked with the  future of  the cheetah project.  Safe in Boma, Cubs Yet to Face Jungle Threats The documentaries showcase  playful  cheetah cubs in Kuno. The first cheetah cubs  were born in Kuno in March 2023 when a Nambian

A Tiger Procession in Ranthambhore

  A video of tiger sighting  going viral on social media and shot in   Ranthambhore national park with  200 to 300 tourists following the cat in canters and gypsies stunned the wildlife lovers. Despite the presence of a large tourist crowd the tiger was walking down the dusty pathway of the park – unimpressed and undeterred. A senior wildlife official termed it an “unpleasant sight” and “disgusting to say the least''. For the tourists, the tiger  here seems to have become an object of entertainment while for the tourist operators and the forest department, a revenue generating commodity. The conservation aspect seems to be missing somewhere. Tiger Sandwitched Between Tourist Vehicles    There were at least seven canters and some gypsies full of tourists, behind the tiger -identified as T121- and as many vehicles in front of the cat moving in reverse direction. The tiger was sandwiched between the vehicles near a junction of zone number 4 and 5.  “ It happened because the  vehic

Is Forest Fencing Issue Impacting Cheetah Project ?

  When the Indian authorities are gearing up for the release of more cheetahs in the open forests of Kuno national park , serious differences seem to have emerged between a key African cheetah expert and the Indian officials at the helm of affairs of cheetah introduction programme in India. The difference  of opinion  on the issues of  fenced jungle for cheetahs ,lack of prey  and  man power  emerged after the death of six cheetahs including three  cubs .Though the cheetah action plan already mentions high mortality in the reintroduction of the African species of the cat in India, half a dozen cheetah deaths seems to have rattled the Indo-African team managing the spotted cat in Kuno. Eight months after the release of the cats from Africa by the Prime Minister Modi in September last year, many apprehensions expressed by a number of   experts and biologists over the project seem to have come true. Questions are being raised again- Whether it was a project launched in hurry? Or whether c