BHOPAL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated his birthday among the eight cheetahs that were released into special enclosures at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur on Saturday. The fully vaccinated big cats (five females and three males) flew 12 hours in a special cargo aircraft accompanied by wildlife experts, from Namibia’s Windhoek airport before the plane landed at the IAF airbase in Gwalior at 7.55am. They were shifted in Chinook copters to their new home at KNP. Around 11:30am, Modi released three of the eight cheetahs into special enclosures where they will be in quarantine for a month.
Modi was accompanied by Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Soon after Modi worked a lever that opened the cages, the cheetahs emerged wearing curious looks and explored their new surroundings. They appeared to be hesitant. The PM captured the historic moment – the successful intercontinental flight and their release at KNP – in his camera.
The cheetahs will now spend the next month in total quarantine in nine small enclosures where they will be under roundthe- clock watch of experts, until they slowly start getting acclimatised to their new home. Knowing that the cheetahs’ rehabilitation will pave the smooth passage for the arrival of 12 more from South Africa in a month or two, the PM had a word of caution for wildlife lovers eager to reach KNP to catching a glimpse of the wild cats.
“We have to give them enough time to make KNP their new and best home. India is working hard to rehabilitate cheetahs in accordance with international guidelines, we must not allow our efforts to fail,” he appealed to wildlife enthusiasts. “It is unfortunate that although cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952, serious efforts weren’t made for decades for their return and rehabilitation,” Modi lamented. “But in the Amrit Kaal of Azaadi (75th year of India’s Independence), the country has succeeded in the cheetahs’ return and rehabilitation.
This is the result of years of efforts by our experts along with their counterparts from Namibia and South Africa, a development which doesn’t find much importance if viewed politically,” he maintained. “Since our government assumed power in 2014, as many as 250 more protected areas have been added, Asiatic Lions numbers have risen sharply, making Gujarat their major habitat,” the PM said.