India to reintroduce cheetahs after 70 years

[Still Waters]

India's top court has said cheetahs can be reintroduced in the country, 70 years after they were wiped out.

Responding to a plea by the government, the Supreme Court said African cheetahs could be introduced to the wild in a "carefully chosen location".

Cheetahs are an endangered species, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

Only 7,100 cheetahs are left in the wild, almost all of them in Africa.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-51279206

[Still Waters]

For the first time in 70 years, India's forests will be home to cheetahs.

Eight of them are set to arrive in August from Namibia, home to one of the world's largest populations of the wild cat.

The first arrivals will make their home in the state of Madhya Pradesh at Kuno-Palpur National Park, selected for its cheetah-friendly terrain.

The timing of the move is expected to occur as the nation celebrates 75 years of independence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-62239811

[Still Waters]

Eight Namibian cheetahs have been airlifted to India, part of an ambitious project to reintroduce the big cats after they were driven to extinction there decades ago, officials and vets said.

The wild cheetahs were moved by road from a game park north of the Namibian capital of Windhoek on Friday to board a chartered Boeing 747 dubbed “Cat plane” for an 11-hour flight.

They are to be welcomed by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Saturday, his 72nd birthday.

The project is the world’s first inter-continental translocation of cheetahs, the world’s fastest land animal, according to the Indian high commissioner to Namibia, Prashant Agrawal.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/17/india-reintroduces-cheetahs-to-wild-after-big-cats-airlifted-from-namibia

[MissJatti]

Hope this time they dont get killed!

[Still Waters]

India has welcomed the birth of four cheetah cubs - more than 70 years after the animals were declared officially extinct there.

India's environment minister announced the good news, calling it a "momentous event".

The country has been trying to reintroduce the big cats for decades, and last year brought eight cheetahs over from Namibia as part of the plan.

Another 12 cheetahs were brought to India from South Africa last month.

The cubs were believed to have been born five days ago, but they were spotted by officials on Wednesday, the Press Trust of India reported.

A park official told the news agency that the mother Siyaya and the cubs were fine and healthy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65113651

[Eldorado]

Two cheetah cubs have died and a third is in a critical condition at a national park in India's Madhya Pradesh state.

Another cub died in the national park on Tuesday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65692541

[Piney]

Cheetahs evolved in North America from the same ancestor of the puma then migrated across the land bridge into Siberia, then Asia on to Africa.

During their time in Asia they had a population bottleneck and lost a lot of their genetic diversity.

They were doomed to extinction without our help.