Sheopur (MP): Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh welcomed 12 cheetahs who arrived from Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday and were released into the quarantine enclosures in the park located in Sheopur district.
The development comes five months after the first batch of eight cheetahs, the fastest land animals, were brought in from Namibia. The inter-continental translocation is part of the centre's ambitious programme to reintroduce these animals in the country seven decades after they became extinct.
The country's last cheetah died in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and the species was declared extinct in 1952. With the addition of these 12 members, the count of cheetahs at the KNP has gone up to 20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released eight felines from Namibia into the KNP on September 17 last year.
An AIF plane carrying the 12 cheetahs - seven males and five females - from South Africa, arrived at the Gwalior airport around 10 am. These spotted animals had embarked on a journey to their new home thousands of miles away aboard the IAF transport aircraft from the O R Tambo International Airport at Gauteng in South Africa shortly before midnight. Each cheetah was kept in a separate special wooden box during the journey.
Also read: MP: Second batch of 12 cheetahs expected to arrive at Kuno on Feb 18, says official
After their arrival in Gwalior, the cheetahs were transported to the KNP in Sheopur, a distance of around 165 kms by road, in IAF helicopters. Wearing forest green sleeveless jackets and hats, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister for Environment and Forests Bhupender Yadav released these felines into the quarantine bomas after the animals arrived at the KNP around noon.
While eight cheetahs were put up in separate quarantine enclosures, four others were kept in two bomas in pairs. With their arrival, there are now 10 male cheetahs and as many females at the park. The South African big cats will be kept in the quarantine enclosures for at least a month before they are moved into the acclimatisation bomas. A decision on it will be taken by the task force on cheetahs, officials said.
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. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between India and South Africa last month for the translocation of the mammals.
South Africa has donated these big cats to India. But India has to pay USD 3,000 for the capture of every cheetah to the African nation before they are translocated, a wildlife expert said. India had planned to airlift these South African cheetahs in August last year but couldn't do so due to delay in signing a formal translocation agreement between the two countries.
PM Modi had released eight cheetahs from Namibia amid a lot of fanfare, setting the ball rolling for the revival of their population in India where these distinctively spotted cat species became extinct more than 70 years ago. (With PTI inputs)
