Return of the cheetah

Cheetahs will be seen in India (Credit: CSE)JODHPUR district in Rajasthan, which recently captured headlines for being
the place where the cinestar Salman Khan was arrested for
killing a blackbuck, is all set to become famous for
wildlife conservation. The World Wide Fund
for Nature (WWF) will be developing a cheetah
breeding facility at the Machiya Nature Reserve
near Jodhpur. Cheetahs were last spotted in India
in 1960. If the propose is implemented as
planned, cheetahs will be found in Indian forests
in two years' time.

The project will be assisted by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF),
Namibia, which will also share knowledge on breeding and conservation of
cheetah. Namibia has a population of around 2,500 cheetah's and the topogra-
phy very similar to that of Machiya.

Efforts to reintroduce cheetahs in India began in the 1980s. But it was
soon concluded that India does not anymore possess the habitat or the prey
needed for the survival of cheetah. Once
again, in 1994, the possibility of reintroducing cheetah in Machiya was discussed by the WWF experts. In the following year CCF director Laurie Marker
Kraus visited Jodhpur and concluded
that it had a great potential for sustaining and breeding cheetah due to its location, size, natural habitat and water
availability.