India Congress leader says ‘Cheetahs from Nigeria’ brought Lumpy Virus to India. But the Cheetahs came from Namibia

This bizarre remarks and allegations was made by the Maharashtra Congress leader, Nana Patole who claimed that the Lumpy virus disease plaguing India cattle was caused by Cheetahs that were brought from Nigeria. The weird thing about his false allegation was that the Cheetahs were brought from Namibia and not Nigeria to replenish the extinct Cheetah population in India. There is no scientific evidence that those Cheetahs from Namibia were inflected with Lumpy virus.

“After going extinct in India over 70 years ago, cheetahs are finally making a comeback in the country with a new reintroduction program.”

In September 2022, “Eight cheetahs from Namibia arrived in India on Saturday, according to a tweet from the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). The big cats were released into India’s Kuno National Park in the state of Madya Pradesh. Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952 and are the only large carnivore in the country to have suffered that fate.”

“The release of the eight animals is part of a larger plan to reintroduce the cats to their former range. In January, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced in a news release that the government planned to release 50 cheetahs into Indian national parks over the next five years. The group that arrived in Kuno consists of three male and five female adult cheetahs from Namibia, according to a news release from the CCF. Each cheetah was vaccinated, fitted with a satellite collar and kept in isolation at the fund’s location in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, according to the release.”

Nigeria and Namibia are not same country

Nigeria is in West Africa and Namibia is at the southern tip of Africa below South Africa. Why is this India politician making such an allegation? Is this a cultivated ignorance or outright ignorance?

According to Nana Patole, “This lumpy virus has been prevailing in Nigeria for a long time and the Cheetahs have also been brought from there. The central government has deliberately done this so that farmers incur losses, Bringing cheetahs from abroad will not solve the problems of the country’s farmers and the problems of inflation and unemployment. But in spite of this, cheetahs were brought in for hunting following which the Lumpy virus spread in the country,” he claimed, while demanding the government pay Rs 700 to the farmers for last year and Rs 1,000 for this year as a bonus.”

Another India politician challenged his ignorance by reminding him, that Nigeria and Namibia are two different African nations: “Does he know Nigeria & Namibia are different nations?”