Bhopal: As part of the first-of-its-kind transcontinental mission, a specially customized plane landed in Namibia on Thursday to get a total of eight Namibian Cheetahs back to India after being extinct for over 70 years. Five female and three male cheetahs will head for India in a customized Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet with a picture of a tiger at its nose.
"A special bird touches down in the Land of the Brave to carry goodwill ambassadors to the Land of the Tiger," the High Commission tweeted on Thursday. The aircraft will take off from Namibia's capital Windhoek, after traveling overnight and reaching Jaipur on the morning of Saturday, September 17. From there within 45 minutes the cheetahs will then be flown from Jaipur to their new home—Kuno National Park in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh in helicopters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release all the Cheetahs into the national park on his birthday on September 17. The aircraft bringing the cheetahs to India has been modified to allow cages to be secured in the main cabin but will still allow vets to have full access to the cats during the flight.
Also read: This Sep 17, PM Modi's birthday, India's plan to bring back extinct cheetahs will finally be fulfilled
It has been painted with the image of a tiger. The aircraft is an ultra-long range jet capable of flying for up to 16 hours and can fly directly from Namibia to India without a stop to refuel, an important consideration for the well-being of the cheetahs.
The cheetahs will have to spend their entire air transit period empty stomach, a senior Indian forest department official said on Tuesday. Such a precaution is needed as a long journey may create nausea-like feelings in animals leading to other complications.
It is reported that the Mughal Emperor Akbar had kept 1,000 cheetahs in his menagerie and collected as many as 9,000 cats during his half-century reign from 1556 to 1605. As late as 1799, Tipu Sultan of Mysore is reported to have had 16 cheetahs as part of his menagerie.
The cheetah numbers were fast depleting by the end of the 18th century even though their prey base and habitat survived till much later. It is recorded that the last cheetahs were shot in India in 1947, but there are credible reports of sightings of the cat till about 1967.
MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan congratulated the country over the arrival of the big cats. Taking to Twitter, the CM said, “Congratulations India! With the arrival of cheetahs, the trinity of tigers, leopards, and cheetahs will be complete in Madhya Pradesh. Under the constant guidance of our visionary PM Narendra Modi ji the maiden international translocation will be completed. Eagerly waiting.”
