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From South Africa to MP’s Kuno Park: How 12 cheetahs were sedated & ferried (VIDEOs)

The sedated felines were ferried to India via Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft, which landed at the Gwalior air base at around 10 AM. From there, they were taken to Kuno National Park via helicopters.

New Delhi: The Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh is now home to 12 more South African Cheetahs. The fresh batch of Cheetahs being lifted out from South Africa will join the 8 Namibian big cats that were brought here months ago.

The 12 cheetahs – including 7 males & 5 females were released into their quarantine enclosures at the national park by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The reintroduction of cheetahs in India’s jungles is one of the world’s first such drive to relocate the wild cats in an intercontinental habitat but from sedating to transporting them into new habitat without any hassles was no easy task.

Darted & sedated, also hydrated with drips

It is for the first time that Cheetahs were ferried from South Africa to India, joining the existing batch of 8 big cats from Namibia.

While many wondered about the rigorous process, South Africa’s Dept of Forestry Twitter handle gave a good peek into the sedation & transportation of these cheetahs to India. Before loading them on relocation crates & then on flight, they were also hydrated with drips.

These crates were taken to Tambo International Airport in South Africa, where Indian High Commissioner Jaideep Sarkar was also present.

IAF’s Globemaster lifted big cats to India

The sedated felines were ferried to India via Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft, which landed at the Gwalior air base at around 10 AM on SAturday. From there, they were taken to Kuno National Park via helicopters.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan released cheetahs into their quarantine enclosures in the Kuno National Park, spread over 750 km in Chambal region.

1st batch of Cheetahs entered Kuno on Sept 17

For the unversed, the first batch of Cheetahs were ferried from Namibia to MP and were released into the Kuno Park by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17.

Cheetahs were declared extinct species in India in 1952. The country recorded its last cheetah death in Chhattisgarh in year 1947.