12 Cheetahs from South Africa to arrive on Feb 18 in MP's Kuno National Park

New Delhi, Feb 15: In a significant development, 12 Cheetahs from South Africa will arrive on February 18 in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park after South Africa last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the re-introduction of Cheetahs in India to establish a viable cheetah population in the Asian country. They will join the 8 cheetahs who arrived from Namibia last year in September.

 

Cheetahs will be arriving by Indian Air Force plane and not through the charted plane. The first plane will land at Gwalior Airport and from there by Helicopter cheetah will be brought to Kuno National Park.

As per MoU with South Africa, the initial batch of 12 cheetahs is to be flown from South Africa to India in February 2023. MoU terms are to be reviewed every 5 years. Following the import of the 12 Cheetahs in February, the plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years.

Also Read: After Namibia, South Africa signs deal with India to transfer cheetahs; 12 of them to be flown in Feb-March
 

This is the second major group of Cheetahs that will be arriving in India after the first group came from Namibia in September 2022. The Cheetahs were released in Kuno National park on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, September 17. This was the world's first inter-continental transfer of large wild carnivorous animals. The eight Cheetahs were brought from Namibia, five female and three male.

Cheetahs in India are being reintroduced under Project Cheetah, officially known as "Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India". Under the project, 50 Cheetahs will be reintroduced in India's national parks over a time frame of five years. Cheetahs, the fastest land animal, was declared extinct in India in 1952.