Cheetahs return to India after seven decades: Namibian felines reach Gwalior

Gwalior: On Saturday, two helicopters carrying eight cheetahs arrived in Palpur, close to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. They had flown in from Namibia on a special plane as part of a programme to reintroduce the feline to India, where it had been declared extinct seven decades earlier.

An official reported that the aircraft transporting the felines from Namibia touched down at the Gwalior airbase just before 8 am.

A plan to introduce the big cat in the KNP by November last year was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, people residing around KNP are happy that the government has selected the wildlife sanctuary for the intercontinental cheetah translocation project, and hoped the move would create job opportunities and improve the fortunes of the region.

According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), an international not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Namibia and dedicated to saving the majestic animal in the wild, the five female cheetahs bound for India are aged between two years and five years and the male siblings are aged between four-and-a-half years and five-and-a-half years.

"It is a matter of pride for the people of Sheopur district that PM Modi has selected KNP for reintroducing cheetahs. We are waiting with bated breath to welcome the cheetahs," said Kamal Singh, who resides in Sesaipura village located in the vicinity of the national park.

Bharat Sharma, a resident of Karahal, said, "We are hopeful that now our future is secure as cheetahs will be rehabilitated in Kuno National Park, which will turn the fortunes of the region for the better. We are now confident that KNP and Sheopur will be known the world over now and the programme will generate employment opportunities for people, especially youths."

The Maharajpura airbase is connected with a terminal building named after BJP stalwart late Vijayaraje Scindia, which is a civil airport and is connected with a corridor for planes to reach there after landing at the main airstrip.

The cheetahs will remain without food during their air and road journey and they will be given something to eat once they are released from the enclosures, another official said.

Chief conservator of forest (CCF) Uttam Sharma said a dais has been set up in the KNP, under which special cages carrying cheetahs will be kept and PM Modi will release three of them in an enclosure by operating a lever.

After that, other dignitaries will release the remaining cheetahs in other enclosures, he said.

The cheetahs will be brought in a special flight of Terra Avia, an airline based in Chisinau, Moldova (in Europe) that operates chartered passenger and cargo flights.

In view of the high-profile event, security in the district has stepped up.

KNP is situated on the Northern side of the Vidhyachal mountains and is spread across 344.686 sq km.

It has been named after a tributary of the Chambal River, Kuno.

With PTI inputs