Kochi: Endangered Asiatic cheetahs are back in India after a gap of seven decades from 1952 when they were declared extinct.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released three of the eight big cats imported from Namibia in Africa into Kuno National Park near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh coinciding with his 72nd birthday today, media reports said.
A total of eight were brought home on a specially designed Jet under Project Cheetah programme taken up on an “experimental basis”, the reports said.
The project is part of environment and wildlife conservation, Modi said, adding that it was unfortunate that no steps were taken to introduce them after they were declared extinct, the reports said.
He said people would have to wait some more time to see it in the national park. The radio collared cheetahs will be tracked through satellite.
There are five female Cheetahs of two to five years while the male are 4.5 to 5.5 years.
Experts fear they may struggle to adapt to the habitat. There are less than 7,000 Cheetahs left in the world, mainly in African savannas.
The plan to reintroduce Cheetahs was first initiated by the Congress -led UPA government in 2009, but could not take off for not getting permission from the Supreme Court, media reports said.
The BJP-led government revived it in 2017 with the Apex Court giving permission in 2020 to go ahead with the plan on an “experimental basis”.
This is the first time that a large carnivore is being relocated from one continent to another.
Photo Credit: Twitter
