Europe News Desk!! South Africa on Friday transferred 12 cheetahs to India as part of a cooperation agreement. The animals were sent as part of an initiative to expand the cheetah meta-population in India, an official said, and to bring cheetahs back to life after their local extinction due to excessive hunting and habitat loss over the last century. Reintroduced to former range state. A media statement was also issued by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, South Africa in this regard. Cheetahs will join 8 mammals transferred from Namibia to India’s Kuno National Park in September 2022. Earlier this year, the governments of South Africa and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation on the reintroduction of the cheetah in India. The MoU facilitates cooperation between the two countries to establish viable and secure cheetah populations in India; Promotes conservation and ensures that expertise is shared and exchanged and capacity is built to promote cheetah conservation.
This includes human-wildlife conflict resolution, capture and transfer of wildlife, and community participation in conservation in both countries. Conservation transfers have become common practice to conserve species and restore ecosystems. South Africa plays an active role in providing a foundation for population and range expansion of iconic species such as the cheetah. It is because of South Africa’s successful conservation practices that our country is able to participate in a project like this – to restore a species to its former range state – said Barbara Creasey, South Africa’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment and thereby contribute to the future survival of the species. Cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952. India’s restoration of cheetah populations is considered a significant and far-reaching conservation outcome, with the aim of achieving a number of ecological objectives, including re-establishing the functional role of cheetahs within their historical range in India and improving livelihood options for local communities. and growing economies.
–IANS
KC/ANM
World News Desk!!!