The Union Government has given new names to the Cheetahs that were moved from Namibia and South Africa to India’s Kuno National Park on April 20. A competition was held to submit names for the Cheetahs, and the new names were chosen from 11565 entries.
On September 25 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested citizens to come up with suggestions for names for cheetahs on Mann Ki Baat to sensitise the general public about Project Cheetah.
From September 26 to October 31, 2022, a competition was held on the Government of India platform mygov.in. As per the official statement made on April 20, a total of 11,565 entries were received. The Cheetahs will now be called Aasha, Pavan, Nabha, Jwala, Gaurav, Shaurya, Dhatri, Daksha, Nirva, Vayu, Agni, Gamini, Tejas, Veera, Suraj, Dheera, Uday, Prabhas and Pavak.
The winners of the competition, who recommended new names for Namibian and South African cheetahs, were congratulated by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change.
In 1947, the last cheetahs recorded in the Indian wilderness were shot in the Sal (Shorea robusta) forests of Koriya District, Chhattisgarh State.
In India, the primary cause for the decline of Cheetahs was the large-scale capture of animals from the wild for coursing, bounty, and sport hunting. Substantial habitat change with a simultaneous decline in prey base led to the extinction of cheetahs in 1952.
The purpose of Cheetah conservation was to build a healthy cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the cheetah to execute its functional role as a top predator while also allowing the cheetah to expand within its historical range contributing to global conservation efforts.
In this context, the Government of India launched G2G consultation discussions with the Republic of Namibia, resulting in the signing of an MoU between the two nations for cheetah conservation on July 20, 2022.
After the signing of the MoU, eight cheetahs were moved from Namibia to India on September 17, 2022, in a historic first wild-to-wild intercontinental translocation. On April 19, 2023, the Cheetahs were released from quarantine.
According to the Action Plan for Cheetah Introduction in India, at least 10-12 cheetahs must be imported from African countries each year for the next five years. Under this plan, India had bilateral talks with South Africa, which successfully concluded in January 2023 by signing the MoU.
Under the MoU on February 17, 12 cheetahs (7 males, 5 females) were translocated from South Africa to India. Indian Air Force executed the process of translocation of cheetahs to Kuno National Park.
During the transatlantic translocation exercise, the cheetahs were escorted by a team of cheetah experts, veterinarians, and top officials.
