8 Namibian cheetahs to arrive in India on PM Modi's birthday

Eight cheetahs will be sent to India where they will be personally welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday, officials said Tuesday, in an ambitious project to reintroduce the speedy big cats to the country.

India in the past was home to Asiatic cheetahs but the species was declared extinct domestically by 1952. A prince is believed to have killed the last three specimens.Since 2020, the government been working to reintroduce the animals after the Supreme Court announced that African cheetahs, a different subspecies, could be settled in a "carefully chosen location" on an experimental basis.

The five males and three females will arrive from Namibia on Saturday and will initially be kept in a quarantine enclosure at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The prime minister himself will be releasing the animals into the quarantine enclosures," an environment ministry official told AFP.The cats will then be moved to larger spaces and once they acclimatise will be released into open forest in the park. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the project was part of global efforts to conserve the animal. PM Modi's presence for the launch "will give enthusiasm and energy to all of us", he added.