MP's Kuno National Park To Get First Batch Of Cheetahs From Namibia

NEW DELHI: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) informed on Monday that the first batch of cheetahs is being flown from Namibia to Kuno National Park in Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh on September 17.

The big cat species will be reintroduced in India after 70 years, since being declared extinct in 1952.

NTCA Member Secretary S P Yadav said, "We are getting eight cheetahs out of which five are female and three are male at Kuno National Park, Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh."

The cheetah reintroduction project will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at MP's Kuno National Park on September 17.

"This is a big and historic time and there is no other example like this in the entire world where it is being released and brought from one continent to another continent and all the international standards are being followed for this," Yadav added.

He further said, "As of now, our plan is to have bring the cheetahs in the morning of September 17 and for this we hired a chartered cargo plane. The cheetahs will come to Jaipur from Windhoek, Namibia's capital and then by helicopter will come to Palpur Kuno National Park and then there will be a programme to release them, the helipad has also been built."

"It will be a historic moment to bring cheetahs back to India. You know that in 1947-48, the last three cheetahs were hunted by the Maharaja of Korea in Chhattisgarh and the last cheetah was seen at the same time in 1952 the Government of India declared Cheetah as extinct and since then we are restoring cheetahs after almost 75 years."

"Cheetahs will be brought in quarantine for the first 30 days, quarantine arrangements are made, their health and other parameters will be monitored and after that when it is found that they are completely healthy after testing them, they will be put in large enclosures" Yadav added.

Yadav further said that "Enclosure in 6 Sq. Kilometres have been made, and it has nine compartments, of which eight are for cheetah and when it will be left in the large enclosure after quarantine. Monitoring will be done whether Cheetah has adapted to the climate of the country or not and whether he is feeling comfortable or not and all these will be monitored very closely."

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was constituted under section 38 L (1) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

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