A pair of Namibian cheetahs have been released into the wild in India as part of a project to restore the population of these wild cats that disappeared more than 70 years ago in the country, said Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, quoted by AFP.

"Both cheetahs are fine," the minister tweeted after the animals were released in central India's Kuno National Park after several months of acclimatization.

The cheetahs Obaan and Asha are the first to be released into the wild, of a total of eight that arrived in September last year from Namibia following India's 2020 Supreme Court decision to experimentally restore the population.

Authorities hope that once released, the cheetahs will multiply and within ten years the population will number a hundred wild cats.

This is the first intercontinental migration of cheetahs, the fastest animals on the planet.

Kuno National Park was chosen to house the cheetahs of Africa.

They are a different subspecies from the Indian Asiatic cheetahs, declared extinct in 1952.

The cheetah has been declared a vulnerable animal species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

It is believed that about 7,000 specimens live in the wild today, mainly in the African savannah, adds BTA.

India

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