New Delhi: After 70 years India is ready to relocate the African cat, the Cheetah in its Jungels, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi going to launch the “cheetah reintroduction project” from Namibia on the 17th of September.
The date was chosen on PM Modi’s 72nd birthday, September 17th.
Revealing this at the inaugural meeting of the national conference for the Zoo Directors being held in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar on Saturday by, the Union Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav.
The Union Minister also  urged officials to make the Indian zoo, a place to educate people about wildlife and asked them to come up with innovative ideas to increase public & community
The minister said that the zoos serve in adding to the enjoyment of the people- particularly of the low and middle-income strata of our society.
He added that the zoos are also a kind of stress buster as a side product and this needs to recognize.
As a part of an ambitious project of 75 crores to reintroduce the extinct spotted cat species in the country, the first batch of 12 cheetahs from South Africa is expected to reach India in October this year.
The central government in July had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Namibia to bring back cheetahs to India. The Asiatic cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952.
The MoU was signed between Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Namibia Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah.
The Kuno National Park, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, where the cheetahs will be kept in an enclosure, has the capacity to house 21 to 36 cheetahs.
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