PM Narendra Modi’s Birthday: 8 Cheetahs from Namibia land in Gwalior, to be released by PM today

Eight cheetahs from Namibia arrived in India today as part of a programme to reintroduce the feline seven decades after it was declared extinct in India.

Image Credit: Reuters; representational purposes only

New Delhi: Eight cheetahs from Namibia land in India today, as a part of the programme to reintroduce the feline in India seven decades after it was declared extinct in the country. According to an official, the plane landed at the Gwalior airbase shortly before 8 a.m.

The cheetahs were transported in special wooden crates by a modified Boeing plane that took off from the African country on Friday night. These cheetahs will be flown to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be celebrating his birthday. He will release three of the cheetahs in quarantine enclosures at 10.45 a.m.

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh: Earlier visuals of the 8 cheetahs from Namibia being brought out of the special chartered cargo flight that landed in Gwalior this morning.

Indian Air Force choppers,carrying the felines, are enroute Kuno National Park where they'll be reintroduced today pic.twitter.com/R2UV36N8E1 — ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2022

According to an official, the animals will be flown in an Air Force helicopter from Gwalior to Kuno in the Sheopur district, a distance of 165 kilometres, in about 20-25 minutes.

The cheetahs were not fed during the journey and will be given food once they are released into the enclosures. In addition, a dais has been constructed in the Park to house special cages containing cheetahs, and Prime Minister Modi will release three of them into an enclosure by operating a lever.

According to the official, other dignitaries will then release the remaining cheetahs in other enclosures.

The cheetahs were transported in a special flight operated by Terra Avia, a European airline based in Chisinau, Moldova that operates chartered passenger and cargo flights. The park covers 344 square kilometres and is located on the northern side of the Vidhyachal mountains.

The officials had to battle heavy rain, bad weather, and some blocked roads to finish preparing for Narendra Modi's programme to release the big cats into their new home in Kuno. Heavy rain lashed the Madhya Pradesh region of Gwalior-Chambal two days before Modi's arrival.