Cheetah cheer: Jumbo jet in Namibia to bring 8 felines

PM to release them into Kuno park

PM Narendra Modi will release African cheetahs brought from Namibia in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on Saturday as part of his efforts to revitalise and diversify the country’s wildlife and habitat, his office said.

Jumbo jet in Namibia to bring 8 felines

• A specially customised B747 jumbo jet has arrived in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, to bring eight cheetahs to India
• Eight cheetahs, five of them female, will be brought to Jaipur on September 17 in the cargo aircraft as part of an inter-continental translocation project
• They will then be flown to their new home — Kuno National Park in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh

Extinct since 1952

• The large carnivore got completely wiped out from India due to their use for coursing, sport hunting, overhunting and habitat loss
• The government declared the cheetah extinct in the country in 1952
• The last spotted feline died in 1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district

Precautions

• Cheetahs will have to spend their entire air transit period empty stomach, a senior Indian forest department official said.
• Such a precaution is needed as a long journey may create nausea-like feelings in animals leading to other complications
• The aircraft 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