A Rare Media Interview with a Reintroduced Cheetah

A rare media interview with a reintroduced cheetah. From my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

The Cheetah in India Seeks Advice

New to India, the Cheetah seeks advice from a grassland veteran, the Striped Hyena. Comic from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

The Cheetah Comes to India

Amid much pomp and show, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, African Cheetahs from Namibia will be flown in a specially decorated aircraft to India today, to be reintroduced to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, which was initially prepared to establish a second population of Asiatic Lions. Read all my cartoons on the issue here. 

Big Cats Big Jokes 2022

I first drew a cartoon about a Bengal Tiger and an Asiatic Lion discussing cheetah reintroduction back in 2010, when the idea was first broached. Now that it is just around the corner, it was time for a re-hash.

From my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine. 

Cheetah Introduction and the Asiatic Lion

As India prepares to introduce African Cheetahs to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Nature TV News speaks to the dumped ex, the Asiatic Lion. Comic from my column with The Hindu Weekend.

Cheetah Reintroduction in India

 Envisioned as early as 2011 by the then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, the proposal to introduce cheetahs to India had been rejected considering the lack of habitat and prey for the savanna cats, which have been extinct in India for 70 years now. But now the Supreme Court of India has cleared the plan to reintroduce Cheetahs from Namibia to India. While most conservationists feel that this is a case of misplaced priorities and that India should instead be focusing on preserving the already existing cat species and their habitat, some argue that cheetah reintroduction could save grasslands, otherwise largely ignored by conservation policies. Another point to note is that Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary which has been prepared and assessed for the establishment of a second population of Gujarat's Asiatic Lions imperiled by inbreeding and disease, could be a site for the reintroduction of the cheetah, which would leave the fate of our Asiatic Lions suspended in uncertainty.

Cartoon from my column with RoundGlass Sustain.

Big Cats, Big Jokes!

While India's big cats continue to suffer from habitat loss and poaching, there have been plans by the government to re-introduce cheetahs in the grasslands of Western and central India. Does India have the room, resources and the skill to host another beautiful big cat when all its other species are already fighting a losing battle? Also, the continuous decline in the numbers of the Great Indian Bustard, a critically endangered grassland bird proves that grassland conservation has always taken a back seat in India's conservation strategies.

Here's my take on the cheetah introduction issue.

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