On Monday, the supreme court allowed a change of location of Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh, saying the species is under threat of abolition and needs a second home. In fact, a bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and C.K. Prasad has given six months time to the wildlife authorities concerned for translocating the lions.

Fact-fully, at present there are around 400 Asiatic lions in Gujarat's Gir sanctuary.

The bench, however, said the introduction of African cheetahs in India from Namibia cannot be allowed, saying preservation of critically endangered native species, like the wild buffalo and the Great Indian Bustard, should be given primacy. Moreover, under its Rs. 300 crore Cheetah Reintroduction Programme, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had proposed the introduction of the African Cheetahs in the country.

The apex court, however, in May last year had stayed the implementation of the project and that he issue of relocating cheetahs from Namibia was raised before the court during a hearing on translocation of Asiatic lions from Gir National Park and Sanctuary and surrounding areas to Palpur Kuno Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, pursuant to a decision taken by the National Board for Wildlife (NBW).

As a fact, the Gujarat government has been fighting a legal battle in the apex court against translocation of lions in the wake of a PIL seeking their translocation to Madhya Pradesh.

Madhya Pradesh had last year sought translocation of lions to Kuno Palpur sanctuary, claiming it has all the purposeful measure to ensure tuneful environment to the threatened species. As a concluding fact, Gujarat had opposed the appeal of Madhya Pradesh, saying lions would not be safe there as the central state had failed to preserve its own tiger population in the Panna reserve forest.

Abolition of the threat is a must! 

(AW:Samrat Biswas)