SC to decide on big cats’ transfer to MP

Nitin Sethi TNN 

New Delhi: Should India import and implant the Namibian cheetah in Madhya Pradesh or the ‘Gujarati’ Lion? The decision is now to be made by Supreme Court with the wildlife experts and government agencies unable to come to a decision. 
    The case for taking some lions from Gujarat — home to the last remaining wild population of the grassland big cat to Palpur-Kuno in Madhya Pradesh has been hanging fire in the apex court for seven years now. Now the issues has got muddled further with the Centre deciding to also import the cheetah from Namibia and attempt to make the same forest patch a home to the animal that went extinct in India. Not to forget, the tiger already resides in the same forests. 
    The court’s final order could also push the line on how far the judiciary and the Centre can intervene in matters of wildlife conservation with the subject being in the concurrent list of the constitution. 
    To compound the matter further Gujarat has made the lion its animal, or rather, matter of pride and does not want to part with even a few animals from the animal’s lair in the Gir wildlife sanctuary. 
    Gujarat has argued that the lions are doing just fine in Gir; in fact growing in numbers and Madhya Pradesh has a bad track-record with tigers. 
    It’s also pointed out that the Union government has decided to introduce the cheetah after importing it from Namibia and this should be done before the lions are taken. 
    Madhya Pradesh government has pitched its hat in the ring for both the animals. It claimed the forest patch in the state has a better prey base for the lion which is cramped in the relatively small Gir wildlife sanctuary and its prepared the grounds for long — including relocating people years ago. 
    The original move to translocate lions from Gir was started by the Union environment ministry with worries that the single population could be wiped clean in case an infectious disease spread through the region and a small group should be reared separately in Madhya Pradesh. 
    But now there are wildlife activists advocating for the cheetah as well. The Union environment ministry gave a nod to this wild cat too a year back even though there was opposition internally to bringing another carnivore back into India, with its attendant large international funding and high profile and intensive requirements, when its already difficult to manage the existing tiger population.

BONE OF CONTENTION: The MP government wants both the Gujarati lion and African cheetah. The state claimed that its forest patch has a better prey base for the lion which is cramped in the relatively small Gir wildlife sanctuary