12 More Cheetahs To Arrive In India From South Africa On Feb 18: Environment Minister

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between India and South Africa to transport cheetahs from the African country and reintroduce them in Kuno.

Representational Image

Source : PTI File Photo

New Delhi: Twelve cheetahs will be flown to India from South Africa on Saturday, February 18, said the Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday. Under the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released the first batch of eight spotted felines, five females and three males, from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on his 72nd birthday on September 17 last year. 

Currently, the eight cheetahs at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno are killing a prey every three-four days and are in good health, officials said, reported the news agency. 

One of the cheetahs was unwell as her creatinine levels had shot up. She has recovered after treatment, they said. 

"A C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) left the country Thursday morning to bring 12 cheetahs from South Africa. Ten quarantine enclosures have been created at the Kuno National Park for these felines," the minister said at a press conference in the national capital.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between India and South Africa to transport cheetahs from the African country and reintroduce them in Kuno.

A majority of the world's 7,000 cheetahs live in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Namibia has the world's largest population of cheetahs.

Owing to overhunting and habitat loss, Cheetah is the only large carnivore in the country that got completely wiped out from the country. The last spotted feline died in 1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh's Koriya district.

"Seven male and five female cheetahs will embark on the journey to Kuno from O. R. Tambo International Airport, Gauteng, South Africa Friday evening," National Tiger Conservation Authority head S P Yadav said. 

"The cheetahs will arrive at the Gwalior Air Force base in Madhya Pradesh at 10 am on Saturday and they will be then taken in IAF's MI-17 helicopters," he added.