"Ex-situ conservation": India, where the Asiatic cheetah is now extinct, is interested in cloning the cheetah to reintroduce it to the country. It was claimed that Iran – the donor country – was willing to participate in the project. Later, however, Iran refused to send a male and female cheetah or to allow experts to collect tissue samples from a cheetah kept in a zoo there. In 2009, the Indian government considered reintroducing cheetahs through importing from Africa through captive breeding.