A customised jet has arrived in Namibia to bring cheetahs to India’s Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh where they will be re-introduced in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17.
High Commission of India in Windhoek, Namibia tweets the visual of the Indian aircraft. “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 said on Thursday.
PM Modi will inaugurate the “Reintroduction of the Cheetah” project at the Kuno National Park in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh on September 17. PM Modi will also release cheetahs being brought from Africa into the state’s forests.
The big cat species will be reintroduced in India after 70 years since being declared extinct in 1952.
Meanwhile, 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 in Madhya Pradesh, according to an official statement issued here on Tuesday.
Earlier, IndianOil on 2nd August 2022, signed an MoU with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for the transcontinental relocation of Cheetah in its historical range in India. The MoU was signed by S M Vaidya, Chairman, IndianOil and Dr S P Yadav, Addl. Director General (Project Tiger) and Member Secretary (NTCA).
Under the ambitious project of the Indian government – Project Cheetah – the reintroduction of wild species, particularly cheetah is being undertaken as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.
Project Cheetah is an ambitious project undertaken by the government which aims to re-establish the species in its historical range in the country. India has a long history of wildlife conservation.
One of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures ‘Project Tiger’ which was initiated way back in 1972, has not only contributed to the conservation of tigers but also to the entire ecosystem.
