CHEETAH REINTRODUCTION

About:

• The big cats were flown in on a modified passenger B-747 Jumbo Jet, which took off from Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek and landed in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior.
• The cheetahs will be released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of his birthday, at Kuno National Park.
• On board the jet were eight Namibian wild cheetahs, five females and three males.
• A plan to reintroduce cheetahs in India that was endorsed in 2009 by then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was shot down by the Supreme Court in 2013.
• The idea was revived in 2017 by the Narendra Modi government, and the SC cleared the move in 2020 “on an experimental basis”.
• This is the first time in the world that a large carnivore will be relocated from one continent to another.