India To Get Second Batch Of African Cheetahs

New Delhi: Five months after 8 cheetahs were brought over from Namibia, a second batch from South Africa is expected to arrive at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park next weekend.

As per plans, a dozen cheetahs will be flown over on February 18, PTI quoted Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (wildlife) J S Chouhan as saying.

The cheetahs will be flown from South Africa to Gwalior, before being transported to Kuno. However, it was not clear about the number of male and female cheetahs among the batch of 12.

Like last time, the cheetahs will be kept under a one-month quarantine. Authorities at Kuno National Park have set up 10 quarantine enclosures for the new guests.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released eight cheetahs from Namibia – five females and three males – into a quarantine enclosure at Kuno National Park on his 72nd birthday, on September 17.

The first batch of cheetahs have currently been kept in hunting enclosures at Kuno. In due course, they will be fully release into the wild of Kuno National Park.

The cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952 after the last of the species died in then-MP in 1947.

After seven decades, cheetahs are being reintroduced in the country.

Also Read: [Watch] Seventy Years After Becoming Extinct In Country, 8 Cheetahs Land In India