Twelve cheetahs from South Africa had been flown into Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning, from the place they are going to be taken to the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district for launch into quarantine enclosures.
An Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft carrying the felines landed on the Gwalior air base round 10 am.
These cheetahs – seven males and 5 females – comprise the second set of massive cats coming to the KNP, the primary set of eight from Namibia having been launched on September 17 final yr at a operate by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
From Gwalior, they are going to be flown to the KNP round 12 midday in an IAF helicopter. They shall be put into quarantine bomas (enclosures) after half an hour (12.30 pm), an skilled had stated.
These animals shall be launched into the KNP by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union minister Bhupender Yadav.
The intercontinental translocation of those quickest land animals – first from Namibia and now from South Africa – is a part of the Indian authorities’s formidable cheetah reintroduction programme.