Cheetahs Brought Under MoU
The Namibia cheetahs have been brought under an MoU signed earlier this year. The cheetahs are being introduced under ‘Project Cheetah’ which is the world’s first intercontinental large wild carnivore translocation venture. Cheetahs are expected to help in the restoration of open forest and grassland ecosystems in India. This will further assist in conservation biodiversity. Project Cheetah Chief S.P. Yadav told The Sunday Guardian that special wooden kits had been used to bring Cheetahs which were made as per the international standards. Yadav said that besides Project Cheetah officials and some veterinary doctors, wildlife experts, cheetah experts and three Indian scientists were also on board in the special dedicated plane from Namibia. Also, Laurie Marker, a cheetah expert, also came, accompanied by three biologists.
PM Modi releases Cheetahs
On his 72nd birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhibited his love for wildlife by releasing eight Cheetahs from Namibia in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on Saturday morning. For him, it was an ideal beginning of his birthday as it was part of his long efforts to revitalise and diversify India’s wildlife and its habitat. The Cheetahs reached India from Namibia on Friday. The world’s fastest mammals, Cheetahs are all set to be “reintroduced” to India. The cheetah is the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out from this country mainly because of hunting and habitat loss. The last spotted cheetah reportedly died in Chhattisgarh’s Sal forests of Koriya district in 1948; the wild animal was declared extinct in 1952.
Zambian Cheetah On A Leash
Badri Ram Jakhar, a former Congress Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan’s Pali, has also exhibited his love for cheetahs. He has shared his photographs with cheetahs from a visit to a national park in Zambia, which, he says, has a big healthy population of the animal. The pictures have gone viral on social media. Jakhar has also updated his display photograph on Facebook. It shows him on a seemingly casual stroll through the Zambia Park with a cheetah on a leash. Obviously, the adventure tour operators have been attracting tourists by letting them stroll with ‘tamed’ cheetahs.
Cheetah Awareness for kids
To coincide with the arrival of the first batch of cheetahs in India, the Union Environment Ministry started a ‘Cheetah Awareness Programme’ for school children through the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Since 9 August, the NMNH had been organizing presentations on the cheetah in schools across the country. It reached out to about 18,000 students in 80 schools across 12 states. The Environment Ministry had also planned an online quiz called “Cheetah in India”, which concluded on Saturday when the cheetahs from Namibia were released in Kuno National Park by PM Modi. The quiz programme was specially planned to target children.
BJP Celebrates PM’s B’Day
To ensure that the BJP leaders refrain from organizing loud events like cake-cutting ceremonies and other rituals on PM Narendra Modi’s birthday on Saturday, the party national president J.P. Nadda some days ago issued strict instructions. Nadda informed that the party is organising a ‘Sewa Pakhwada (Service Fortnight)’ from 17 September to 2 October. During this period, blood donation camps, seminars, tree plantations, etc., will be organised. BJP general secretary Arun Singh has written to the state units, listing out the programmes they are expected to organise during the fortnight. The state BJP units have been instructed to reach out to the workers till the booth level, urging them to meet people and talk about the Modi government-run welfare schemes.
Elephant Chases CM’s Convoy
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and his convoy had a tough time on Thursday evening to escape from one angry elephant. A big wild elephant came on the road from the forest near Tut Gadre. Rawat was returning to Kotdwar from the Garhwal tour. The big wild elephant from the forest near Tut Gadre suddenly stopped and blocked the way for his convoy on the Kotdwar-Dugadda road near Siddhabali temple. It started chasing the convoy. Rawat’s security personnel got him out of the car and took him towards a nearby mountain creek as the elephant ran behind them. From a small stream, the elephant filled water in the trunk and sprayed it around. After some time, the elephant calmed down.
Chinese team Banned From Queen’s funeral
A Chinese delegation visiting London to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday will not be allowed to view her coffin at the lying-in-state vigil inside Parliament. Some British Parliamentarians had raised concerns about inviting representatives from China after several lawmakers were sanctioned by Beijing for criticising alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. China denies any such abuses. It is believed that the Chinese government delegation has been banned from attending the lying-in-state after the Speaker of the Parliament’s lower house had refused access to Westminster Hall on the parliamentary estate due to the Chinese sanctions.