After 74 years, India gets ready to receive 8 cheetahs; Special plane lands in Namibia

New Delhi, Sept 15: With India getting for world’s first inter-continental cheetah translocation project, a special plane landed in Namibia to get a total of eight Namibian Cheetahs back to Indian territory after being extinct for over 70 years.

 

 

Five female and three male cheetahs will head for India in a customized Boeing 747-400 jumbo aircraft from Namibia's capital Windhoek, travelling overnight and reaching Jaipur on the morning of Saturday, September 17.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release eight cheetahs being brought from Namibia into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on his birthday on September 17. The large carnivore got completely wiped out from India due to their use for coursing, sport hunting, overhunting, and habitat loss.

 

 

"A special bird touches down in the Land of the Brave to carry goodwill ambassadors to the Land of the Tiger," the High Commission of India in Windhoek tweeted.

 

 

As it was earlier reported, Indian Oil Corporation Limited will contribute Rs 50.22 crore over five years for the transcontinental relocation of Cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa to the Kuno National Park. It is pertinent to mention that IndianOil is the first and only corporate to come forward to support "Project Cheetah" through CSR.

 

 

Cheetahs, the fastest land animal got extinct in India in the 1950s, majorly because of excessive hunting. Following extensive hunting, the cheetahs reportedly had become extinct in India in 1952. The last of the Cheetahs were hunted by the Raja of Koriya, in the jungles which are now part of Chhattisgarh in 1947. Five years later, the fastest moving animal on earth was declared extinct officially in India.