Bhopal: Under the Indian Government Project Cheetah, 12 African Cheetahs were released in Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district on Saturday where special arrangements have been made for their relocation and stay.

It comes months after eight cheetahs were ferried from Namibia

It comes months after eight cheetahs were ferried from Namibia and PM Modi released them into the National Park with an aim to reintroduce and boost India’s wildlife.

The Cheetahs were released into their quarantine enclosures at the Kuno National Park by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav. Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Jyotiraditya Scindia will also be present on the occasion.

As per the schedule, the aircraft carrying the cheetahs will land at the Gwalior Air Force base at 10 am. They will then be taken to Kuno National Park in helicopters. The Cheetahs have already left South Africa for India.

All the cheetahs will then be kept in quarantine for a month. 10 quarantine boomers have been set up. Two Cheetahs each stay in two enclosures and the rest of the other cheetahs will be kept in separate quarantine boomers.

The 12 Cheetahs, who will land in India shortly, have been selected on a technical basis. All of them were fitted with radio collars and were kept for 30 days of quarantine. They are fully vaccinated, and their movements will be tracked through a satellite network.

The last cheetah died in India in 1947, and the species was declared extinct from the country in 1952.