Twelve South African cheetahs flown to India as part of revival efforts

 

12 cheetahs have arrived in India as part of efforts to revive the cheetah species, which became extinct in the country after many decades.

The Indian Air Force announced that the feline predators from South Africa had flown from Johannesburg on Saturday.

The cheetahs will next be airlifted by Indian Air Force helicopters and released at their final destination in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh state.

They will join eight cheetahs that were relocated from Namibia in September last year.

According to a joint statement by India's Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, the cheetahs are part of an initiative by India and South Africa to reintroduce cheetahs to India.

The initiative will "expand the cheetah meta-population and reintroduce cheetahs to a former range state after their local extinction due to overhunting and habitat loss over the past century," the statement said.