After MP, Odisha’s Nandankanan Keen To Bring Cheetahs

Bhubaneswar: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight Namibian Cheetahs at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, the Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) in Odisha has revived its plans to get a pair of these exotic animals together with five white lions from abroad.

Plans are afoot to sign an MoU with the Dubai Safari Park in UAE to bring two Cheetahs to the zoo under animal exchange programme, reports said on Sunday.

The zoo plans to bring a male and female cheetah in exchange for five Manipur brow-antlered deer, two male and three female, NZP officials reportedly said.  The zoo also plans to bring five African white lions – two male and three female – by exchanging two male and three female blackbucks, with Dubai.

This apart, two chimpanzees are likely to be brought in exchange of two hippopotamuses and six ring-tailed lemurs in exchange of four hog deer.

The exchange programme of Nandankanan also includes swapping of two gaur, three red jungle fowl, six gharial, two lady amherst’s pheasant, two jandaya conure and two sun conure with three red-necked wallaby, eight Himadryas baboon, seven African grey parrot and five blue and gold macaw.

The cost and consignment modalities are being worked out for signing of the MoU. After finalising the details, the proposal will be placed before the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) for approval. Thereafter, steps will be initiated for agreement and the exchange programme, said an official.

This is going to be the second attempt by Nandankanan to bring Cheetah. The previous plan to bring the animal to the zoo in 2019-20 had failed. Though the zoo had received a nod from the state government to bring a pair of African Cheetahs, wallabies and five zebras from abroad, approval could not be obtained from the CZA and Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) for the purpose, sources said..

On Saturday, the Prime Minister released five female and three male Cheetahs, brought in a customized Boeing 747-700 jumbo aircraft from Namibia, at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.