After becoming extinct in India more than 70 years ago, cheetahs are finally returning to the country under a new reintroduction program.
Eight cheetahs from Namibia arrived in India on Saturday, according to a tweet by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). The big cats were released in India’s Kuno National Park in the state of Madya Pradesh.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was there to welcome the cheetahs to their new home. “A long wait is over,” Modi tweeted along with photos of the cats in their new surroundings.
Today, spotted cats are found in southern and eastern Africa, particularly in Namibia, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
But the endangered cats used to have a much larger range. Historically, cheetahs roamed throughout the Middle East and central India as well as most of sub-Saharan Africa. Habitat loss, poaching and conflict with humans have greatly reduced their populations.
There are now fewer than 7,000 cheetahs left in the wild, WWF says. In Iran, there are only 12 adult cheetahs in the wild.
The release of the eight animals is part of a wider plan to reintroduce the cats to their old range. In January, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change announced in a press release that the government planned to release 50 cheetahs into Indian national parks over the next five years.
The group that arrived in Kuno consists of three male and five female adult cheetahs from Namibia, according to a press release from the CCF. Each cheetah was vaccinated, fitted with a satellite collar and kept in isolation at the fund’s site in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, according to the release.
The animals selected for the 11-hour journey were chosen “based on an assessment of health, wild disposition, hunting skills and ability to contribute genetics that will lead to a strong founder population,” the organization says.
It took a journey of many steps for the cats to get from Namibia, on the southwest coast of Africa, to central India. On Friday, the cheetahs traveled from the CCF center to Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek, Namibia. They then took a private jet to Jaipur, India. Finally, on Saturday the cats were taken to Kuno National Park and released into their new home.
“As a conservationist, I am thrilled and as a CCF leader, I am extremely proud of our team’s work to reintroduce CCF,” Laurie Marker, CCF’s founder and executive director, said in the release. “Without research and dedication to cheetah conservation, this project would not have been possible.”
Jhala Yadvendradev, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India and principal scientist for India’s Cheetah Programme, said the project will benefit India’s ecosystems in general – not just cheetahs.
“The reintroduction of a top predator restores the historical evolutionary balance, resulting in cascading effects, leading to better management and restoration of wildlife habitat, to the benefit of all species and will enhance the livelihoods of poor forest communities,” Yadvendradev said in announcement. .
