The reintroduction of the cheetah to India

A meeting of wildlife experts and officials form around the world has discussed the reintroduction of the cheetah to India. The big cat s[species has been extinct in the country since the 1960’s. Reintroduction of large animals is always difficult, but with cheetah numbers falling in Africa and especially Iran the reintroduction could be just the lifeline the big cat needs.

The initial phase will see the animals introduced to semi-captive conditions, but further work must be done to also restore valuable habitat and increase the cheetahs natural prey requirements. Cheetah numbers in India were around 10,000 during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir but had fallen to just over only 200 in the early part of the last century, with no cats reported in the wild after around 1968.