Barbara Creecy, the South African minister for forestry, fisheries, and the environment, has approved an MoU with India for Project Cheetah, ending months of suspense, sources said. The papers are now with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
With this, 12 more cheetahs will be relocated to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, joining the eight that were brought there from Namibia in September. Before being fully released into the wild, these eight cheetahs are currently housed in hunting enclosures.
In July 2022, South Africa was asked to send 12 cheetahs as part of India's initial reintroduction effort at Kuno. But as a result of "warnings and negative reports" from a lobby of self-described conservationists in both countries, the MoU was repeatedly postponed, according to sources. Initially, the shipment of cheetahs from South Africa was to coincide with those from Namibia.
Of 12 South Africa cheetahs picked up for Kuno, nine are in quarantine in Rooiberg in Limpopo province and the rest in Phinda, KwaZulu-Natal province. While the current carrying capacity at Kuno is of 21 cheetahs, once expanded, it can hold about 36, said sources.
