India: the twelve South African cheetahs have started their quarantine
A southern African cheetah, here in Singapore, October 26, 2021. © AFP/Roslan Rahman
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1 min
The twelve cheetahs who left South Africa last Friday February 17 have arrived in India, and have begun their quarantine in a park in the center of the country.
They thus join the eight others who arrived last September from Namibia, as part of a major program to reintroduce this species in India, which disappeared from the subcontinent around sixty years ago.
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With our correspondent in New Delhi,
Sébastien Farcis
The twelve cheetahs
made this intercontinental journey transported in large individual boxes.
More than ten hours of flight from South Africa, in a large Indian army C17 plane, then in helicopters, to Kuno Park, in central India.
There, the felines were released on Saturday 18 in large individual enclosures and in the open air to begin their quarantine.
Coming out of the cage, the cheetahs looked a bit disoriented, but lively.
Towards total freedom
"
We are happy because all the cheetahs are healthy,"
said SP Yadav, Deputy Director General of the Indian Ministry of Environment, in charge of this project.
We see them alert and active, which is a good sign.
We will continue to watch them to make sure they are eating well.
»
The
other eight Namibian cheetahs
, which arrived five months ago, are now in larger enclosures, where they have previously hunted local animals.
But the real test of this reintroduction will be their total freedom, because the cheetahs need a lot of space, and they will therefore quickly leave the limits of this national park, to go to the neighboring forest which has inhabited areas.
► To read also:
India finds its cheetahs with the help of South Africa
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