On Thursday, the Cheetahs that were relocated from Nambia and South Africa to India’s Kuno National Park were given new names by the Center. A competition was organized to propose names for the Cheetahs by the Indian government and the new names were selected out of 11565 entries today.
The Cheetahs will now be called as Aasha, Pavan, Nabha, Jwala, Gaurav, Shaurya, Dhatri, Daksha, Nirva, Vayu, Agni, Gamini, Tejas, Veera, Suraj, Dheera, Uday, Prabhas and Pavak. In a novel initiative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2022 had urged the citizens to come with suggestions for cheetahs reintroduced from Namibia and South Africa to India. The Centre intended to create awareness among the general public about Project Cheetah.
Cheetahs named!
— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) April 20, 2023
On 25th September 2022, PM Shri @narendramodi ji during his #MannKiBaat address asked people to suggest names for cheetahs reintroduced from Namibia and South Africa.
A competition was thus organised.
Happy to share the names of our cheetahs and the winners. pic.twitter.com/KEcO4ujvFH
Reportedly, the names were selected after a competition was held on the government platform from September 26 to October 31. The said names were chosen from the 11565 entries. The video of the incident was shared by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change who also congratulated the winners for suggesting the names.
“Cheetahs named! On 25th September 2022, PM during his Mann Ki Baat address asked people to suggest names for cheetahs reintroduced from Namibia and South Africa. A competition was thus organised. Happy to share the names of our cheetahs and the winners,” he tweeted sharing a 1 minute video of the Cheetahs.
On September 17, 2022, eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia to India and released in Kuno National Park by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in a historic first wild-to-wild intercontinental relocation. Following the obligatory quarantine time, the cheetahs were gradually allowed into the bigger habitat.
Later on February 18, 2023, twelve more (7 males and 5 females) cheetahs were brought from South Africa to India. A delegation of cheetah experts, veterinarians and senior officials also accompanied the cheetahs during the transcontinental translocation exercise.
Cheetahs have become extinct in India. The last three cheetahs in India were shot in the Sal (Shorea robusta) woods of Koriya District, Chhattisgarh State, in 1947. The major reasons for the cheetah’s extinction in India were large-scale capture of animals from the wild for coursing, bounty, and sport hunting, substantial habitat modification, and a concomitant fall in prey base. Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952.
Following this, efforts had started to reintroduce Cheetahs from other countries. However, the efforts didn’t yield results for decades. But after renewed efforts under the Narendra Modi government, the project saw success and 8 cheetahs were introduced last year in India.
The objective of the cheetah introduction project in India is to create a healthy cheetah metapopulation that would support the cheetah’s global conservation efforts, allow it to fulfil its functional role as a top predator, and create space for the cheetah to spread outside of its historic range.
As reported earlier, yearly 10-12 cheetahs are expected to be brought from African countries for the next 5 years at least.
