Disappeared from India for more than seventy years, the cheetah should be reintroduced in the country on August 15 thanks to an agreement signed with Namibia on Wednesday.
This was announced by Indian Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Twitter.
According to the minister, this project, started in 2020 and announced in January 2022, will “significantly improve the livelihoods of local communities through long-term ecotourism prospects”.
The Asian cheetah is an officially extinct species in India since 1952. The reintroduction will therefore be done thanks to eight African cheetahs.
“Establishing a viable population of cheetahs in India”
In 2020, the Supreme Court of India had authorized the introduction of African cheetahs on an experimental basis in a "carefully chosen place".
According to the agreement signed on Wednesday in New Delhi, it is a national park in the state of Madhya Pradesh (center) which has been designated as the home for these eight cheetahs, due to the abundance of prey and grasslands.
The cheetah is the only large carnivore to have become extinct in India, a victim of hunting and the disappearance of its natural habitat.
Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo is said to have killed the last three cheetahs in the country in the late 1940s.
Now, the government wants to "establish a viable population of cheetahs in India, and allow it to play its functional role as a predator at the top of the food pyramid".
In the meantime, leaders hope they can sign a deal with South Africa to reintroduce more African cheetahs.
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