After a gap of 70 years, 8 cheetahs were brought from Namibia to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Cheetahs, the fastest among the feline species, were hunted to extinction in India in 1952.
PM Narendra Modi, on the occasion of his 72nd birthday on Friday, did a 'soft' release of the 5 female and 3 male cheetahs. The radio- collared cheetahs were released in a 'quarantine enclosure' for the cheetahs to be acclimatized, after which they will be released in the wild.
"It is a stroke of good luck that the chain of biodiversity which had been broken for several decades, will be joined once again as cheetahs have been brought back. With the advent of these cheetahs, love for nature will also be awakened", said PM Modi.
Project Cheetah was approved by the Supreme Court of India in January 2020 as a pilot programme to reintroduce the species to India. In July 2020, India and the Republic of Namibia signed a MoU, with the Namibian government agreeing to donate the eight felines to launch the programme.
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