Cheetahs return to India Live Updates: PM Modi to release big cats brought from Namibia in MP’s Kuno National Park
What it takes to successfully move big cats like cheetahs out of their natural habitats
On Friday (September 16), a modified passenger B-747 Jumbo Jet will take off from Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek, Namibia, for Gwalior. On board will be eight Namibian wild cheetahs, five females and three males, the founders of a new population in Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh.
A special bird touches down in the Land of the Brave to carry goodwill ambassadors to the Land of the Tiger.#AmritMahotsav #IndiaNamibia pic.twitter.com/vmV0ffBncO
— India In Namibia (@IndiainNamibia) September 14, 2022
The cheetahs will fly overnight to travel during the coolest hours of the day. Landing in Jaipur in the morning, they will be transferred by helicopter to Kuno, where they will be released in specially erected enclosures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (September 17).
The cheetah facilities have been developed, staff has been trained, and leopards larking in the enclosures have been moved away. Yet, everyone involved will keep their fingers crossed for the success of the first ever transcontinental mission to introduce African cheetahs in the wild.