Cheetahs come in India on Special Day

 Cheetahs come in India on Special Day

 Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi will release Cheetahs brought from Namibia into Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.

India on Saturday morning welcomed eight cheetahs under an agreement signed earlier this year between India and Namibia. A tiger-faced B747 Jumbo jet was used to ferry eight cheetahs from Namibia, who will be introduced into the Indian wildlife by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday.

 Highlights:

-  Eight cheetahs from Namibia landed at the Gwalior Airport in Madhya Pradesh  on 17th 

  September 2022.

-  There are five females and three male Cheetahs arrived.

-  The female cheetahs are aged between 2 and 5 years and the male cheetahs are aged between 4.5 years and 5.5 years.

 -  All the cheetahs will be personally welcomed by PM Modi today on his 72nd birthday.

-  The eight cheetahs are being brought from Namibia as part of 'Project Cheetah'.

 

         

 

  The History of Cheetahs In India

  While there was a time when the cheetah had a robust population across different corners of India, reports suggest that Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya shot the last three surviving big cats in 1947. Over-hunting, loss of prey, and habitat loss led to the cheetah’s extinction, which the Government of India officially declared in 1952. 

India’s first attempt to bring back the carnivore was in the early 70s. It was Ranjitsingh who spoke to Iran even then, but the negotiations stalled after the declaration of Emergency in ‘75 and the deposition of the Shah of Iran in 1979.  

Since then, Ranjitsinh and wildlife conservationist Divyabhanusinh Chavda have worked on the guidelines and policy to reintroduce cheetahs. 

The ‘African Cheetah Introduction Project in India’ was born in 2009, but it was only in 2020 that the Supreme Court gave its final approval. The SC appointed Ranjitsinh to chair an expert committee set up for the relocation.  

 

 

 

 The flight that flew the Cheetah from Namibia

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