IN PICS | PM Modi releases eight cheetahs from Namibia in Kuno National Park on his birthday

A cheetah lies inside a transport cage at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, on September 16, 2022. A viral video showed the crates carrying the cheetahs stacked in what was earlier the economy section of the Boeing aircraft. (Photo | AP)

The aircraft carrying the cheetahs for ten hours landed at the Gwalior airbase at 7.47 am, and the felines were then flown in two Air Force helicopters to Palpur near the Kuno National Park. (Videograb | PTI)

Before their flight from Namibia, the cheetahs, the fastest land animals in the world, were treated with a tranquilizer that lasts for three to five days. (Photo | AP)

The animals were flown to the Kuno National Park in Sheopur district, 165 km away from Gwalior. The journey took about 20-25 minutes. (Photo | Prime Minister's Office)

A dais was set up in the Park under which special cages carrying cheetahs were kept and PM Modi, who turned 72 today, released three of them in an enclosure by operating a lever. (Photo | Prime Minister's Office)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and others after releasing cheetahs inside a special enclosure of the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, on September 17, 2022. (Photo | PIB)

Two of the cheetahs imported from Namibia are siblings (brothers) while one malnourished female guest has been nursed back to health by a farmer in that African nation, sources said. After almost a month in quarantine, they will be put in an acclimatization enclosure for almost 2-4 months before being released in the wild. (Photo | AP)

As per the earlier plan, the special plane carrying the big cats from the African country was to land at the Jaipur airport, from where they were to be flown to Kuno National Park, around 400km from the Rajasthan capital. (Photo | Prime Minister's Office)

Special wooden crates housing cheetahs being shifted to an Air Force helicopter, at the Gwalior airbase. (Photo | Jyotiraditya M Scindia Twitter)

According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, an international not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Namibia and dedicated to saving the fastest land animal, the five female cheetahs bound for India are aged between two and five years, while the males are aged between 4.5 years and 5.5 years. (Photo | Prime Minister's Office)

The last cheetah in India died in 1947 in Korea district in present-day Chhattisgarh, which was earlier part of Madhya Pradesh, and the species was declared extinct from India in 1952. (Videograb | PTI)

The Kuno National Park, the new home of the cheetahs, is situated on the northern side of Vidhyachal mountains and is spread across 344 sq km. (Photo | Prime Minister's Office)

In his address after kicking off the cheetah introduction project conceived by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2009, Prime Minister Modi thanked Namibia while adding that only three cheetahs had been left in the wild in India in 1947 that were unfortunately hunted. (Photo | Prime Minister's Office)

The 'African Cheetah Introduction Project in India' was conceived in 2009 and a plan to introduce the big cat by November last year in Kuno National Park was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials have said. (Photo | Prime Minister's Office)

A local residing around the Park told PTI: 'We are now confident that Kuno National Park and Sheopur will be known the world over and it will generate a lot of employment opportunities for the people, especially youths.' (Photo | Prime Minister's Office)