It must have been a special birthday present for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On his 72nd birthday, he released eight cheetahs from Namibia to a quarantine enclosure in a national park in the state of Madhya Pradesh, images on Indian television showed. The animals should initially remain there and be monitored. Cheetahs are the fastest land animals in the world. The attempted resettlement is controversial.
First attempt worldwide
The five female and three male animals were transported to India from a wildlife park north of the Namibian capital Windhoek in an 11-hour flight aboard a specially chartered Boeing 747 aircraft. According to official statements, the project is the first attempt in the world to relocate cheetahs across different continents. India plans to introduce more cheetahs to the country in the coming years.
A cheetah in a transport cage in Namibia just before departure for India
The animals, between the ages of two and five and a half years, were equipped with a satellite collar that allows their movements to be tracked. First, the animals are kept in quarantine for a month – and then released into the wild in the Kuno National Park, where the cheetahs find lush vegetation and numerous prey animals. Critics had previously warned that the animals would struggle to adapt to India’s natural environment.
Asiatic cheetahs became extinct in 1952
Asiatic cheetahs lived in India for a long time until the species was declared extinct there in 1952. Only a few specimens of the animals that were widespread in earlier centuries from the Middle East to the Indian subcontinent are left in Iran today.
Two more African cheetahs before departure for India
Efforts to reintroduce cheetahs to India received a boost in 2020 with a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court. It had approved the introduction of African cheetahs to a “carefully selected site” on the basis of a trial.
nob/kle (dpa, afp)
