A specially converted B747 jumbo aeroplane will transport eight cheetahs in India‘s Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where they will be reintroduced after the wild cats almost became extinct in the 1950s.
‘A rare bird comes down in the Land of the Brave to transport goodwill ambassadors to the Land of the Tiger’, the Indian High Commission of Windhoek tweeted on September 14th.
Cheetah Population in India
Cheetahs were brought to India from Namibia on September 17 for the first time in more than 70 years.
Eight wild cheetahs from Namibia, including three males and five females, were on board the aircraft. What you need to know about the relocation project is provided here.
Cheetahs are the fastest land animals in the world, and the endeavour is their first intercontinental translocation, according to Prashant Agrawal, the Indian high commissioner to Namibia.
Cheetah Reintroduction in India
The Supreme Court rejected a plan to reintroduce cheetahs to India in 2013 that had been introduced in 2009 by the country’s former environment minister, Jairam Ramesh. The Narendra Modi administration revived the proposal in 2017, and the SC approved the action “on an experimental basis” in 2020.
On Friday, the cheetahs were transported by road from a wildlife park north of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, to a chartered Boeing 747 known as the “Cat plane” for an 11-hour journey. On Saturday, the day of the prime minister’s 72nd birthday, he greeted them.
He opened the entrance to Kuno National Park, a brand-new cat sanctuary located 320 kilometres (200 miles) south of New Delhi. The 290-mile-square (750-square-kilometer) protected area was chosen as a habitat because it had plenty of grasses and prey.
For the first time in history, a large carnivore will be transported between continents. This is an inspiring event because it marks the 75th anniversary of Indian independence.
Journey of African Cheetah in India
As part of an international translocation effort, a cargo plane transported eight cheetahs (five female and three male) to Jaipur in Rajasthan on September 17.
They were then flown by helicopter from Jaipur to Kuno National Park in the Sheopur region of Madhya Pradesh, where they will spend the rest of their lives. On the same day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released these cheetahs into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh in honour of his birthday.
According to a top Indian forest department official on Tuesday, cheetahs must travel on an empty stomach the entire time they are in an aeroplane. This precaution was necessary since long journeys can make animals feel queasy, leading to other problems.
Last Cheetah in India
The huge carnivore was eradicated from India due to human activities like coursing, sport hunting, overhunting, and habitat loss.
The cheetah has officially declared extinct in the nation in 1952. Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district witnessed the last death of a spotted cat in 1948.
The Namibian government provided the first eight cheetahs in India to start the Cheetah reintroduction programme. Due to the Indian government’s initiatives, which started in the 1970s, to re-establish the species in the country’s historic habitats.
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