India welcomes 12 cheetahs from South Africa
NEW DELHI — India welcomed 12 cheetahs from South Africa on Saturday that will be part of 8 many others it received from Namibia past 12 months as component of an formidable push to reintroduce the huge cats in the country right after 70 decades.
An plane carrying the cheetahs landed at Gwalior Air Drive base, the Press Have faith in of India news agency reported. The cats will then be flown in helicopters to Kuno Countrywide Park in India’s Madhya Pradesh condition, in which they will be produced into quarantine enclosures.
In January, India said it prepared to import 12 cats every year for the following 8 to 10 years as aspect of an settlement signed by the two African international locations.
Cheetah populations in most nations around the world are declining. South Africa, in which the cats are running out of space, is an exception.
The eight cheetahs flown from Namibia were launched into the sprawling Kuno National Park in central India in September.
Cheetahs were once widespread in India but grew to become extinct in 1952 from hunting and loss of habitat. They remain the 1st and only predator to die out considering the fact that India’s independence in 1947. India hopes that importing African cheetahs will support attempts to conserve the country’s threatened and mainly neglected grasslands.
There are less than 7,000 grownup cheetahs in the wild globally, and they now inhabit a lot less than 9% of their original variety. Shrinking habitat, thanks to the rising human populace and local weather transform, is a massive menace.