Bhopal: Twelve South African cheetahs were released into enclosures inside Kuno National Park in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh by Union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday.
The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) C-17 Globemaster plane which took off from OR Tambo International Airport, Gauteng, South Africa carrying these cheetahs reached Maharajpur air base in Gwaliow from where they were taken to Kuno in choppers.
Sources said the IAF aircraft carrying the second batch of cheetahs landed at AF Station Gwalior after a 10-hour flight from Johannesburg.
The second leg of their journey saw the cheetahs being flown from AF Station Gwalior to Kuno National Park, in three IAF Mi-17 helicopters after undertaking mandatory clearances along with African cheetah experts. The cheetahs were released into quarantine bomas.
These cheetahs — seven males and five females — comprise the second set of big cats coming to the state, with the first group of eight from Namibia having been released into the KNP on September 17 last year at a function by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“A plane carrying cheetahs from South Africa landed at the Gwalior airport around 10 a.m.,” Gwalior Superintendent of Police (SP) Amit Sanghi told PTI.
After the clearance procedure in Gwalior, these cheetahs were flown to the KNP in an IAF helicopter, another official said.
KNP Director Uttam Sharma said they have set up 10 quarantine bomas for South African cheetahs. In two of these facilities, two pairs of cheetahs would be kept.
