A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Namibia aims to bring back cheetahs to the country after nearly seven decades. The first eight cheetahs are expected to arrive in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park by August 15. Separately, India is anticipated to receive 12 cheetahs from South Africa; a draught deal has already been signed, and a final one is forthcoming, according to authorities with knowledge of the situation.
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KEY POINTS:
- 69 years after the last known cheetah was hunted down in Chhattisgarh in 1952, the animal will re-enter a wild enclosure in India.
- The Cheetah Translocation Project (CTP), an initiative of the Union Environment Ministry, is being maintained by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
- Before releasing the creatures into the wild, the ministry intends to breed them in a cage in Kuno as part of CTP.
- Bhupender Yadav, the minister of environment, forests, and climate change, and Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah, Namibia’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, both signed the memorandum of understanding.
- SP Yadav, member secretary and additional director general for Project Tiger at the NTCA, stated that they are working to bring the cheetahs to the nation by August 15 to commemorate the nation’s 75th Independence Day.
According to a statement from the environment ministry, CTP’s primary objective is to create a healthy meta-population of the animal in the nation that will enable it to fulfil its functional role as a top predator and create room for it to spread out within its historical range, supporting efforts to conserve it globally.