Eight cheetahs from Africa to arrive at MP's Kuno National Park on Saturday

Eight more cheetahs will be airlifted from Africa and brought to Kuno National Park KNP in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning an official said on FridayMadhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Environment Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav will release the big cats into enclosures readied at the park under the ongoing cheetah revival programme in India via intercontinental translocations he addedThe batch from Botswana comprising six females and two males will fly to Gwalior between 9 pm and 10 pm on an Indian Air Force aircraft Cheetah Project Director Uttam Sharma told PTIFrom Gwalior two IAF helicopters will transport the cheetahs to Kuno National Park where they are expected to arrive between 9 am and 10 am on Saturday The flight duration from Botswana to Gwalior will be around nine to 10 hours he saidThis will be the third batch of cheetahs arriving from Africa following earlier introductions from Namibia and South Africa he addedWith this the number of cheetahs in India will rise to 46Sharma said enclosures have been prepared at the park where the cheetahs will remain in quarantine for about a monthThe park has five helipads to facilitate their safe landing he addedLike the last time the IAF will assist the cheetah revival programme by bringing them from Africa just as it did when transporting the cursorial animal from SA in February 2023 Sharma saidEarlier eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia to Gwalior on a private jet in September 2022 after which IAF helicopters transported them to the park he saidThe arrival of more cheetahs will strengthen Indias cheetah revival programme With the support of the central government we aim to increase the population to 50 as soon as possible Sharma saidThree big cats were later relocated to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary while 35 remain at Kuno National Park he saidAccording to officials endangered animals are not kept in a single habitat due to the risk of disease outbreaks that can wipe out their entire population at one goThe cheetah the worlds fastest land animal became extinct in India nearly seven decades agoLast year India saw the birth of 12 cubs though six including three cubs did not survive This year between February 7 and February 18 eight cubs were born in two littersIn all 39 cubs have been born at KNP since 2023 of which 27 have survivedNamibiaborn Jwala and Aasha South Africaborn Gamini Veera and Nirva and Indiaborn Mukhi have all produced litters at KNP officials saidThree cheetahs have been moved to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandsaur district while 35 remain at KNP they addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever