Story: Cheetahs to return to India after 70 years ; 25-08-2022;
The Cheetah which were native to Indian conditions are long gone, simply putting they went extinct in 1952.
However, the plans of bringing back the foreign breeds of the wild cat has been going on for a while now, but the success of this plan is quite a challenge as India's habitat conditions are different from the environment in African grasslands.
However, India has been planning to make the comeback a success.
For the first time in 70 years, India's forests will be the habitat for cheetahs again.
India has been in negotiations with Namibia since 2020, to make Indian forests home for the cheetahs again.
The already endangered species were declared officially extinct in 1952 in India, cause of mass poaching and due to narrowing of forests.
India to get eight cheetahs, which are set to arrive in August from Namibia, which is home to one of the world's largest population of the wild cat.
The Cheetah is one of the member of big cat family, best known for its speed, beauty, elegance of haunting of its prey.
Cheetah holds the tag of being the world's fastest land animal, it can reach a speed of 70 miles (113km) an hour.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species has classified cheetahs as a vulnerable species, now only around 7,000 are left in the wild worldwide.
Indian state of Madhya Pradesh at Kuno-Palpur National Park (Wildlife Sanctuary) is selected for its cheetah-friendly terrain, which was initially dedicated as a home for Asiatic lions found in the neighbosuring state of Gujarat.
India's supreme court decided in 2020 that they could be reintroduced in a "carefully chosen location".
"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.