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cheetah in a zoo (icon image)
Photo: Matthias Benirschke / dpa
The last cheetahs living in India died almost seventy years ago - now they are supposed to be at home again.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight cheetahs from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure in a national park in the state of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, video footage broadcast on Indian television shows.
The animals should stay there for the time being.
The big cats, between the ages of two and five and a half years, were equipped with a satellite collar that allows their movements to be tracked.
There are five females and three males.
They had arrived at Gwalior Air Force Base in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning in a Boeing 747.
A helicopter then took them to the national park.
In the coming years one wants to bring more cheetahs into the country.
Criticism of "Project Cheetah"
The resettlement is controversial.
Critics said the animals are having a hard time adapting to India's natural environment.
Asiatic cheetahs lived in India for a long time.
In 1952 they were declared extinct.
Asiatic cheetahs are only sporadically found in Iran.
The animals flown in from Namibia belonged to the subspecies of the South African cheetah.
The "Project Cheetah", as it is called in India, received new impetus in 2020 through a court decision.
The Supreme Court approved the settlement of African cheetahs in a "carefully selected site."
jpz/dpa/AFP