President Droupadi Murmu today attended a special event in Botswana where
cheetahs were symbolically handed over to India as part of Project Cheetah.
Botswana’s President Duma Boko also took part in the ceremony, which was held at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve near Gaborone.
The cheetahs, captured from the Ghanzi region, were placed in a quarantine
facility by experts from both India and Botswana. This marks Botswana’s
symbolic donation of cheetahs to India.
The cheetahs will stay in the quarantine facility for a while before being
moved to India. In total, Botswana will donate eight cheetahs to help India
rebuild its cheetah population.
Project Cheetah is a special programme to bring cheetahs back to India,
where they went extinct many decades ago. In 2022, eight cheetahs from
Namibia were brought to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Later,
in 2023, twelve more cheetahs arrived from South Africa.
So far, most of the cheetahs have adjusted well to their new home in
India. They have shown natural behaviours such as hunting, marking their
territory, mating, and even giving birth to cubs on Indian soil.
During her visit, President Murmu will also meet members of the Indian
community in Botswana before ending her trip later today.