Cheetahs returning to Indian forests first time in 70 years
Indian forests will see cheetahs, extinct in the 1950s, for the first time in 70 years.
The Indian government will import eight of them in August from Namibia, reports BBC.
The African country is home to one of the world's largest populations of cheetahs.
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India's indigenous population of the wild cat was declared officially extinct in 1952.
The expected transfer aims to be a part of India's 75 years of independence.
"Completing 75 glorious years of independence with restoring the fastest terrestrial flagship species, the cheetah, in India, will rekindle the ecological dynamics of the landscape," India's environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, said in a social media post.
Officials recently announced the agreement after spending the past two years working on how to transport the animals after India's supreme court decided in 2020 that they could be reintroduced in a "carefully chosen location".
The first arrivals will make their home in the state of Madhya Pradesh at Kuno-Palpur National Park for its cheetah-friendly terrain.
The world's fastest land animal, the cheetah can reach speeds of 113km an hour.
Classified as a vulnerable species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, only around 7,000 are left in the wild worldwide.
