India came one step closer to bringing back the world’s fastest animal, which has been extinct in the country since 1952, with an agreement that was signed in Delhi on Wednesday between the government and the visiting Namibian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations, Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah. The agreement, which has been negotiated for some years, will prepare the ground for the relocation of the first batch of cheetahs from southern Africa to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, with officials trying to complete the first transfer before August 15.
“The [agreement] seeks to promote conservation and restoration of cheetah in their former range from which the species went extinct,” said Minister of Environment and Forests Bhupender Yadav in a tweet after the signing ceremony for what he called an “historic” MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), which took place in the presence of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
“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,” he added.
