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Sheopur (MP). 12 cheetahs brought from South Africa by Indian Air Force aircraft were brought to Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday under the “Cheetah Project”, a plan to rehabilitate cheetahs that have been extinct in India for the last seven decades. Brought to Kuno National Park (KNP) in the district, they were released in different enclosures. With this, there are now a total of 20 leopards in the KNP.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Environment and Forest Minister Bhupendra Yadav released the cheetahs in separate enclosures after they were brought to KNP by Indian Air Force helicopters from Gwalior around noon. The transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force carrying the cheetahs landed at Gwalior airport at around 10 am.
#WATCH Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan released the second batch of 12 cheetahs brought from South Africa at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/tTwRXFPZ6d
— ANI_HindiNews (@AHindinews) February 18, 2023
This second batch of 12 cheetahs has been brought to KNP. These include seven male and five female cheetahs. Earlier in September last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released the first batch of eight cheetahs brought from Namibia into the enclosures at a function in KNP. “The cheetahs that came from South Africa have been kept in isolation,” Kuno Divisional Forest Officer PK Verma told PTI from the spot.
An expert associated with the project said that these cheetahs started their journey on Friday evening to their new home in India, thousands of miles away from OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng, South Africa, on a transport plane. KNP director Uttam Sharma said they have set up 10 enclosures for South African cheetahs.
Two pairs of cheetah brothers will be kept in two of these enclosures. The last cheetah in India died in 1947 in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh and the species was declared extinct in 1952. ‘Project Cheetah’ was started with the aim of rehabilitating cheetahs in India. Under this, cheetahs have been brought here first from Namibia and now from South Africa.
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