The National Tiger Conservation Authority are partners in the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between South Africa and India, in Project Cheetah.
The two have a working visit in cold Pretoria on Monday.
Flora Mokgohloa, DDG for Biodiversity and Conservation, at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) said the visit is part of a review meeting on the progress of the cheetahs’ acclimatization to new conditions in India, subsequent to a translocation from South Africa, back in 2023.
“This review meeting is also meant to strengthen the governance arrangements between South Africa and India in respect of the implementation of the MoU” said Mokgohloa.
12 cheetahs were released in Kuno National Park in India, back in 2023, to expand the cheetah meta-population and to reintroduce cheetahs to a former range state following their local extinction due to over hunting and loss of habitat in the last century.
Cheetah numbers have declined globally from an estimated 15,000 adults in 1975, to a current population of less than 7 000 individuals.
The cheetahs came from Phinda Game Reserve (3), Tswalu Kalahari Reserve (3), the Waterberg Biosphere (3), Kwandwe Game Reserve (2) and Mapesu Game Reserve (1).
Picture: DFFE