Cheetahs from Namibia find new home in Kuno National Park

Sheopur (MP): Seven decades after they became extinct in India, eight Cheetahs from Namibia arrived in India by a special cargo flight on Saturday morning as part of an ambitious project to reintroduce them in the country, and three of them were released into a special enclosure at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Stating that 'Project Cheetah' was his government's endeavour towards environment and wildlife conservation, Modi, who turned 72 on Saturday, lamented that no "constructive efforts" were made by the previous governments to revive the population of the world's fastest animal in India.

The transcontinental journey of more than 8,000 km of the eight cheetahs -- five female and three male and aged between 30 to 66 months -- from Namibia began on Friday night. Around 11.30 am, As the prime minister operated a lever from the high dais, the sliding door of the special cage below opened and the first of the cheetahs stepped into the special enclosure at the KNP, located in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh, as Modi proceeded to click their pictures with his DSLR camera.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister for Environment and Forest Bhupendra Yadav were also present on the dais. The cheetahs hesitated a little as they took in the new environment with a look of curiosity mixed with bafflement, but soon they found their bearing and began to amble around.

KNP Divisional Forest Officer P K Verma said that the remaining five animals were released by other dignitaries into other enclosures. "It is unfortunate that we declared cheetahs extinct in 1952, but for decades no constructive efforts were made to reintroduce them in India. Now, with new strength and vigour, the country has embarked on the project of reviving the population of cheetahs during this 'amrit kaal'," Modi said in his speech as he kicked off the cheetah introduction project conceived by the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2009.

"I thank our friendly nation Namibia and the government there for their help to reintroduce cheetahs in Indian soil after decades,'' he said, adding that only three cheetahs were left in the wild in India in 1947 which were unfortunately hunted.

The last cheetah died in the country in 1947 in Korea district in present-day Chhattisgarh, earlier part of Madhya Pradesh, and the species was declared extinct from India in 1952.