India celebrated this Saturday the arrival of 12 cheetahs of African origin as part of a program to recover this feline, declared extinct by the authorities of the Asian country more than seven decades ago.
“Today another 12 cheetahs are arriving,” adding to the first eight felines introduced to the country last September, the head of the central state of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, said as he awaited their arrival at the Kuno National Park.( 748 square kilometers).
The cheetahs, coming from South Africa, will be released in this enclosure, chosen for the low human presence, the abundance of water and the large number of herbivorous species that inhabit the area, after a brief period of quarantine.
The introduction of these cats to the Asian country is part of the program launched in January 2022 by the Indian government, which aims to release 50 specimens of cheetahs across India over the next five years.
The Asian giant thus has 20 cats from African countries promoted by this project, which is seen as an opportunity to expand its faunal diversity and boost tourism, with the arrival of visitors eager to see the fastest land animal in the world. planet.
The cheetah specimens introduced under the Cheetah project come from several African countries such as South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
The Asian cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952, mainly due to the indiscriminate hunting of these animals and the destruction of their natural habitats.
The experts had proposed the repopulation of the cheetah of African origin above that of Asia which currently survives only in Iran, in danger of extinction and where less than 20 specimens have been seen in recent years.
Last May, Iranian authorities reported the birth of three baby cheetahs, which they described as the feline’s first captive birth.