Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/MADHYA PRADESH: A dozen African cheetahs are set to arrive in India, months after eight of the big cats were transferred from neighboring Namibia last year.
On Saturday, five females and seven males will be flown from South Africa to a national park in central India. This transfer is part of an agreement signed in January by South Africa to introduce dozens of cheetahs to India during the next decade.
In the late 1940s, Asiatic cheetahs became extinct in India, and experts believe that excessive hunting and loss of habitat led to their disappearance.
India’s Supreme Court ruled to bring African cheetahs into the country
In 2020, India’s Supreme Court ruled that African cheetahs, a different subspecies, on an experimental basis, could be brought into the country at a “carefully chosen location.”
Eight cheetahs in 2022 were transported from Namibia to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh; now, 12 more will join them. A wildlife expert working with the project told the PTI news agency that the cheetahs will be reached the national park by Saturday noon.
Director of Kuno National Park, Uttam Sharma, said the big cats would be placed in quarantine enclosures upon arrival. As per Indian laws, for a month, imported animals must be kept in isolation after and before their arrival.
The 12 cheetahs in South Africa have been living in quarantine since July as their translocation was delayed by months as the two nations worked out on final details of the agreement. Wildlife experts have shown concerns about the long quarantine periods the cheetahs are subjected to and say that it could affect their fitness and health. However, Sharma said all preparations to welcome the cheetahs had been completed.
