South Africa to send dozens of cheetahs to India; South Africa has signed an agreement with India to reintroduce dozens of South Asian cheetahs. After sending eight of the big cats from neighboring Namibia in 2022.
The first batch of 12 cheetahs will be flow in February, South Africa’s environment ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Which add that “a further twelve are schedul to be deliver each year for the next eight to 10 years”.
The statement said the goal was to “achieve a number of ecological goal. Including restoring the cheetah’s role in India, where the endangered cats previously roamed, and “boosting local livelihoods and economies.”
South Africa to send dozens of cheetahs to India; Cheetahs were declare extinct in India in 1952. Are the only large carnivores in the country to have met this fate. This is the result of overfishing and habitat loss, according to a statement from India’s environment ministry.
India’s Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said in a statement issue last year. That Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “commit to the protection. Conservation of the seven big cats, including the cheetah.”
“The Cheetah project aims to bring back India’s only extinct large mammal, the cheetah. As part of the project, 50 cheetahs will be introduce in different national parks in five years,” Yadav is quote as saying in the statement.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), cheetahs are now found in southern and eastern Africa, particularly in Namibia, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania.
However, spotted cats used to have a much wider range. Historically, cheetahs ranged across the Middle East and Central India, as well as much of sub-Saharan Africa. Loss of habitat, poaching and conflict with humans have greatly reduced their population.
According to the WWF, there are less than 7,000 cheetahs left in the wild today.
