Court paves way for African cheetahs to be shipped to India

Cheetahs could return to the wild in India after the Supreme Court yesterday gave approval for the spotted big cat to be introduced from Africa on an experimental basis.

The majestic Asiatic cheetahs once roamed India, with historical records suggesting Mughal emperor Akbar kept hundreds as his hunting companions.

But it was hunted close to extinction during the British colonial era before disappearing in the 1950s.

In 2013 the Supreme Court had rejected a proposal by the environment ministry to import the animal from Africa, stating that there was no scientific study to back the move.

However on Tuesday the court ruled the world’s fastest land mammal could be brought to India as part of a trial to find out if it can adapt.

The court set up a three-member committee to guide the National Tiger Conservation Authority on the issue, the Press Trust of India reported.

India’s former environment minister Jairam Ramesh welcomed the decision.

“Delighted that Supreme Court has just given OK to reintroducing cheetah from Namibia. This was something I had initiated 10 years ago,” he tweeted.

“Cheetah which derives from the Sanskrit ‘chitra’ (speckled) is the only mammal hunted to extinction in modern India.”