Who are Cheetah Mitras and what is their role in Project Cheetah?

After a long span of 70 years, India welcomes Cheetahs in the woods of Kuno National Park. The moment of utter happiness was felt and enjoyed all over the country. However, the silver lining came with a grey side identifying the potential chances of poaching, man-animal conflict, and obstacles in the adaptation of habitat.

Addressing the same, PM Modi in one of his episodes of Mann Ki Baat, talked about Cheetah Mitras. Do you know about Cheetah Mitras and their role in the protection and conservation of Cheetahs? No, then reap all the required information from this article.

Who are Cheetah Mitras?

The cheetah Project cannot be a successful movement without the involvement of localities. And to attain the goal, the government roped in volunteers to raise awareness about the Cheetah Project and titled them ‘Cheetah Mitras’. The main cause of the extinction of Cheetah from India was a lack of awareness and sensitization of humans towards the wildlife. Not to repeat the old mistakes, cheetah mitras this time will be aware and familiarise the local populations with spotted cats and develop required changes which will help the cheetahs to adapt. Also, sessions by Cheetah Mitras will help local residents to act wisely in case of any misfortune.

How are Cheetah Mitras selected?

Almost 400 Cheetah Mitra from 51 villages, including school teachers, village headmen, and patwaris have received training from Forest officials. According to officials, to find the best Cheetah Mitras, forest officers went to different coaching centers, community centers, and other such organizations in different villages. On the basis of verbal interaction and a basic general knowledge test, participants were selected for the role of Cheetah Mitras.

The long list of Cheetah Mitras includes teenagers, 50-year-old farmers, and former dacoit Sikarwar, who is also accused of 70 murders.  These Cheetah Mitras groups will travel to different villages to inform people about the friendly nature of Cheetahs. The main focus is to explain to people the differences between cheetah and leopard, so people do not misunderstand a cheetah for a leopard and end up killing them.

What is the role of Cheetah Mitra?

The main role of Cheetah Mitra is to protect the cheetahs brought from Namibia. These Cheetah Mitra are assigned to take care that these animals do not move outside the park or into residential areas. This initiative is similar to the one taken to aid the conservation of the Asiatic lions in Gujrat. 

What is Project Cheetah?

For instance, if a cheetah hits the road toward human settlements. The local residents will be able to differentiate between Cheetahs and Leopards and will act contact forest essentials. Also, to minimize cheetah and human interaction, community radio will be used to spread information about the big cat movement.

The famous dacoit turned Cheetah Mitra Ramesh Sikarwar that keeping the big cats safe from poachers will be an important task, and he will use his knowledge about the forest to fulfill his duty.

Read to know the difference between Cheetah, Leopard, Lion, and Tiger.

In addition, to protect Cheetahs against poachers, two drone squads, five watch towers with CCTV cameras, and around 24 retired military personnel are appointed.

The cheetahs from Nambia will be released into the national park after the completion of the month-long quarantine period. This will give the Cheetahs enough time to adapt to the new environment, also an assessment will be done by the forest officials before opening the doors to the public.