India and Namibia have signed an agreement to relocate eight African cheetahs to India in the hopes of seeing wild cats establish themselves in the Asian nation, where Asiatic cheetahs have been declared extinct since 1952 due to over-hunting and habitat loss.
The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on July 20 to promote the conservation and restoration of cheetahs to the habitat range of the species before it disappeared from recorded sightings.
The cheetahs from Namibia are expected to arrive in India by Aug. 15, coinciding with India’s independence day, and will be relocated to the Kuno wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh in central India. They will remain for a trial one year period….