South Africa has signed an agreement to introduce dozens of African cheetahs to India over the next decade.
According to the South African environment agency, the first batch of 12 cheetahs will be sent in February.
In order to establish a “viable and secure cheetah population,” it intends to transfer a comparable number each year for the following eight to ten years.
The late 1940s saw the extinction of Asian cheetahs in India due to excessive hunting and habitat loss.
In 2020 India’s Supreme Court ruled that African cheetahs, a different subspecies, could be brought into the country at a “carefully chosen location” on an experimental basis.
After their scheduled translocation last August was postponed while the final details were worked out, the chosen South African cheetahs have been kept in quarantine.
“The cheetahs in quarantine are all still doing well,” said Adrian Tordiffe, a veterinary wildlife specialist at the University of Pretoria, who is involved in the project.
Eight cheetahs were sent to India last year from Namibia and released at Kuno National Park in the Madhya Pradesh state.
The park, located 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of New Delhi, is a wildlife sanctuary with abundant prey and grasslands.
As the reserves are close to highly inhabited villages, some conservationists argue that the translocation of cheetahs may not be successful.
Author- Roberta Appiah
