India has rejected three out of the eight cheetahs that were recently relocated from Namibia.
The three were said to have been captive-bred and could not hunt.
But Namibia has denied the allegations that the cheetahs were captive-bred.
Tourism ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said the cheetahs were “captured when they were young and were exposed to hunting”, The Namibian newspaper reports.
He added that Namibia would not “replace the three rejected ones, as we do not want to compromise our cheetah population”.
The cheetahs were to be settled in a national park in Madhya Pradesh state.
India’s former population of Asiatic cheetahs was declared extinct within the country 70 years ago.
The transporting of the cheetahs was the first time a large carnivore was moved from one continent to another to be reintroduced into the wild.
