Cheetahs, the world's fastest animals, died out in India over 70 years ago. Now a new project is trying to bring cheetahs back to India. Eight of the animals were set free in Kuno National Park in September2022.
By 1952, cheetahs died out in this country. One of the main reasons was that people took away much of their natural land. Some people also killed Cheetahs for their skins.
Since 1952, there have been efforts(努 力) to return cheetahs to India. Recently, that finally happened. In an event held on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 72nd birthday, eight cheetahs were set free. The cheetahs were a gift from Namibia's government.
These cheetahs aren't Asian cheetahs, but African cheetahs. There may be as few as 12 Asian cheetahs still living in the wild, and they live in Iran. But even African cheetah numbers have been going down quickly. Now there are only about 8,000 left. Some scientists believe that getting cheetahs going in India again will help make sure that cheetahs don't die out completely.
" Project Cheetah" will cost India about $11 million during the next five years. The goal(目标) is to increase the number of cheetahs to 40. A second group of 12 cheetahs was prepared by South Africa, and has arrived recently.