Project Cheetah: 12 big cats arrive in Gwalior from South Africa; will be taken to Kuno National Park
The intercontinental translocation of these fastest land animals - first from Namibia and now from South Africa - is part of the Indian government's ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme.
India welcomed 12 cheetahs from South Africa on February 18 that will join eight others in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh state. (Image: Twitter @IAF_MCC)
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These cheetahs - seven males and five females - comprise the second set of big cats coming to the state, with the first group of eight from Namibia having been released into the KNP on September 17 last year at a function by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Image: Twitter @IAF_MCC)
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An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 aircraft carrying the second batch of 12 cheetahs landed at Air Force Station in Gwalior on February 18, after a 10 hour flight from Johannesburg, South Africa. These Cheetahs will now be airlifted in IAF helicopters and released in the Kuno National Park. (Image: Twitter @IAF_MCC)
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As per the officials, cheetahs will be offloaded at the Kuno National Park, after which MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister for Environment and Forests Bhupender Yadav would release them into quarantine bomas. (Image: Twitter @IAF_MCC)
The intercontinental translocation of these fastest land animals - first from Namibia and now from South Africa - is part of the Indian government's ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme. The country's last cheetah died in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and the species was declared extinct in 1952. Experts said a delegation from South Africa had visited the KNP early September last year to see the arrangements at the wildlife sanctuary for housing the cheetahs. (Image: Twitter @PBNS_India) (With inputs from agencies)
