New Delhi (AFP) – India announced on Wednesday that it would reintroduce cheetahs, which have disappeared there for more than 70 years, to its territory, thanks to a deal with Namibia that will send the first group there next month. cat.

India has been working on this project since 2020, when the country’s Supreme Court allowed the experimental introduction of the African cheetah in “carefully chosen place”.

The Asian cheetah has been an officially declared extinct species in India since 1952. The agreement signed Wednesday in New Delhi will allow the African cheetah to come to national parks in the state of Madhya Pradesh (center) as part of the 75th anniversary of India’s celebrations. independence on 15 August.

“Completing a glorious 75 years of independence by restoring the world’s fastest land species, the cheetah, to India will revive the dynamics of landscape ecology”India’s Minister of the Environment Bhupender Yadav tweeted.

“The reintroduction of cheetahs will also significantly improve the livelihoods of local people through the long-term prospects of ecotourism”he still welcomes.

The cheetah is the only large carnivore that went extinct in India, mainly due to hunting and loss of its natural habitat. Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo is generally thought to have killed the country’s last three cheetahs in the late 1940s.

Ancient-Palpur National Park was chosen as the new home for the cheetah due to its abundance of prey and grasslands.

“The main goal of the reintroduction project is to establish a viable cheetah population in India, and enable it to play its functional role as a predator at the top of the food pyramid”explained the Ministry of Environment in a press release.

India is also hoping to strike a deal with South Africa to bring in more cheetahs from the country.

© AFP

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