Cheetahs will return to the forests of India this August for the first time in more than 70 years, officials have announced.
Eight Namibian wild cats will roam freely through Kuno-Palpur National Park in the state of Madhya Pradesh to try to reintroduce the animal to its natural habitat.
Despite being a vital part of India’s ecosystem, the cheetah was declared extinct in the country in 1952 due to habitat loss and poaching. Cheetahs can reach speeds of up to 70 mph (113 km / h), making them the fastest land animal in the world.
Only about 7,000 cheetahs remain in the wild worldwide and the animals are classified as vulnerable species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. Namibia has the largest population of cheetahs in the world.
Officials have been working to move the animals since 2020, after India’s Supreme Court announced that African cheetahs could return to “a carefully chosen place”.
The measure coincides with the nation’s 75th Independence Day, celebrating cheetahs as an important part of India’s cultural heritage.
India’s Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted: “Completing 75 glorious years of independence with the restoration of the fastest-growing land-based species, the cheetah, in India, will revive the ecological dynamics of the landscape “.
He added: “The reintroduction of the cheetah in India has a greater goal of restoring ecological function in the Indian prairies that was lost due to the extinction of the Asian cheetah. This is in line with the guidelines of the IUCN on conservation translocations “.
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The Asian cheetah, formerly found in regions stretching from the Arabian Peninsula to Afghanistan, is an endangered species and now only exists in Iran. It is estimated that there are only 12 live cats. Efforts to reintroduce cats to India from Iran in the 1970s failed after the Iranian revolution.