Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The first-time-ever carnivore reintroduction has taken a unique turn, as the Madhya Pradesh forest department wants residents of the state to adopt the African Cheetah as part of their family and tie the knot of protection on ‘Chanda Cheetah’.
Adoption of a carnivore seems like an impossible idea to simple-minded villagers living in surrounding Kuno-Palapur. However, to avert the challenges, the forest department first launched ‘Chintoo Cheetah’ as an innovative way to educate people about the African Cheetah.
Further, the department has been building people’s ownership with various such innovative education programmes.
“Once we have the Cheetah here, hopefully, in November, the bigger challenge will be to protect and ensure the survival of the carnivore here,” Rajnish Singh, assistant conservator of forests, said. He added that, to build ownership, the department used the character to tell people about the nature of Cheetah using the comic strip.
Chintoo and Mintoo: Meeta to tie the rakhi on Chanda Cheetah
Preparing people to adopt and protect the Cheetah as their own, a fresh comic strip, titled ‘Chintoo and Mintoo’ will be launched soon before Rakhi. Chanda Cheetah is launched in this comic strip. The female cheetah is shown as being equally excited to be a part of India and find a new home in MP.
Mintoo, a little boy and his sister, Meeta, recall the sad end of the Asiatic Cheetah in India about 70 years ago. As they go out to buy rakhi, they meet a forest guard. Through the forest, the little boy and girl communicate with Chintoo Cheetah, who is accompanied by a female Cheetah this time. They are discussing over a video call.
Chintoo shares his excitement over coming to India and meeting them. Chanda, the female cheetah, expresses the same sentiments and then asks about the shiny rakhi. Further, as the story goes, Mintoo’s sister promises to tie the rakhi on Chanda and vow to protect her.
10,000 Cheetah Rakhis
To nurture this ownership among the people, 10,000 rakhis featuring the caricatured versions of the Cheetahs will be sent out to all the villagers near Kuno-Palapur.
Cheetah is built to attack deer, not humans
“Cheetahs aren’t an active threat to humans and are rather docile compared to other wild cats,” Singh said.
According to their build, Cheetahs are very lightweight, and aren’t built to fight large and aggressive animals. “They’re more adept at catching a fast-running animal like deer or black buck,” Singh said. He added that it was very uncommon for Cheetahs to attack humans. “There are over 7,000 cheetahs in Africa alone, but never have they attacked humans,” Singh said.
