After more that 20 years of being extinct in the Malawi area, 4 cheetahs have been transported and moved to Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi. At the moment the four cheetahs have been moved into special enclosures so they can adapt to their new environment. After some time in the enclosures, they will be moved into the National Park to live freely.
Cheetahs are the first big predators to be introduced back to the Liwonde territory after being extinct. Malawian governments are proud to have the Cheetahs back. They continue to work on returning Malawi parks and rehabilitate both the wildlife and tourism in the area. Cheetahs are only one of the many animal species to have decreased their number in the past years. It’s important to emphasize the fact that the cheetahs have lost 90 percent of their historical range in Africa. It’s hard to predict the numbers, but it’s believed that there are only around 6.700 living cheetahs in Africa today.
In the Kasungu National park there were reported living Cheetas during the 1980s. But, since at that time human race was spreading their living territories, the Cheetahs slowly disappeared and probably became extinct around 1996. African Parks note how important this step is for both the animal generations and people.
The return of the animal kingdom
It’s not only cheetahs have been gone from the territory for decades. There are more animals who have disappeared from the area. African Parks and the Government are doing their best to adapt the territory for some more animal species to be taken back to Malawi. Lack of animal diversity harms the ecosystem, ecology and human culture, they say at African Parks.
Cheetahs are currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list and their number continues to decrease over time.