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South Africa to Send Cheetahs to India in Bid to Rebuild Animal Population

© AP Photo / Denis FarrellA cheetah jumps inside a quarantine section before being relocated to India next month, at a reserve near Bella Bella, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022.
A cheetah jumps inside a quarantine section before being relocated to India next month, at a reserve near Bella Bella, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022.  - Sputnik International, 1920, 27.01.2023
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India declared cheetahs extinct in the country in 1952 due to the use of the big cats for coursing, sport hunting, overhunting and habitat loss. The efforts of Indian authorities to re-establish the cheetah population led to the signing of a pact with Namibia, which gifted India its first eight cheetahs.
South Africa is planning to send a batch of 12 cheetahs to India in February after signing a memorandum of understanding in a bid to rebuild the population in the Asian country, the South African environment department has announced.
According to the agreement between the two countries, South Africa will send a dozen of cheetahs every year over the next decade. The South African cheetahs will join other eight cheetahs that were translocated to India last year from neighboring Namibia.
The big cats are set to be introduced to the Kuno National Park in the state of Madhya Pradesh, in central India, which hosts the eight Namibian cheetahs - five females and three males – since July 2022.
“The plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years,” the South African environment department added.
The department pointed out that the so-called Project Cheetah, which was requested by India, aims to reintroduce the “cheetah to a former range state following the local extinction of this iconic species due to overhunting and loss of habitat in the last century.”
In 1952, a cheetah-like big cat species disappeared from India due to their use for coursing, sport hunting, overhunting and habitat loss. The delivery of the South African big spotted felines to India will bring the total number of the species in the Asian country to 20.
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