India and Botswana on Wednesday formally announced the translocation of eight cheetahs from the African country for the next phase of Project Cheetah.

The announcement was made during President Droupadi Murmu’s visit to Botswana. At a press conference, Murmu told Botswana President Duma Gideon Boko that India would “take good care” of the animals, PTI reported.

In September 2022, cheetahs were reintroduced under Project Cheetah to India seven decades after the species was declared extinct in the country. The animals were being sourced from African nations like Namibia and South Africa.

Since 2023, at least 15 cheetahs have died.

The eight cheetahs from Botswana will remain in a quarantine facility for some time, after which they will be translocated to India.

Boko on Wednesday said that the move to donate the cheetahs as part of biodiversity cooperation would help in regenerating the population of the animal in India.

The announcement on Wednesday came almost two months after a 20-month-old female cheetah born in India to Namibian cheetah Jwala was found dead in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on September 15.

Forest officials believe that the sub-adult cheetah died following a fight with a leopard, in what could be the first recorded case of its kind since the launch of Project Cheetah.

Experts had warned that leopard encounters posed a significant threat to the success of Project Cheetah.

The late Vincent van der Merwe, an African wildlife expert, had in 2023 highlighted Kuno’s high leopard density, and had urged India to fence two to three habitats for cheetahs.

The cheetah was officially declared extinct by the Indian government in 1952. Before that, the wild cats were last recorded in the country in 1948, when three cheetahs were shot in the sal forests in Chhattisgarh’s Koriya District.

Also read: Did the government gravely underestimate the space needed for Project Cheetah?

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