Sheopuro (KUNO): Seventy years after the last cheetah was hunted to extinction in India, its African cousins are here to take their place in the Indian sun.
At 11:30 am on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi operated a lever to open a gate and release eight cheetahs in a special enclosure. He captured the moment with a camera as the cheetahs ran around, checking out their new home. With jet lag after a 9,000km overnight flight from Namibia to Gwalior, and then to the Kuno heliport, the cheetahs initially looked at their new environment with some hesitation, but soon started running.
The release of the elegant predators was to coincide with Prime Minister Modi’s birthday – he turned 72 on Saturday – with Madhya Pradesh Prime Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and several Union ministers present on the platform for the unique event.
“Decades ago, the centuries-old bond of biodiversity broke and became extinct, today we have the opportunity to restore it”, PM Ways he said, adding: “Today the cheetah is back on the soil of India.”
At 11:30 am on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi operated a lever to open a gate and release eight cheetahs in a special enclosure. He captured the moment with a camera as the cheetahs ran around, checking out their new home. With jet lag after a 9,000km overnight flight from Namibia to Gwalior, and then to the Kuno heliport, the cheetahs initially looked at their new environment with some hesitation, but soon started running.
The release of the elegant predators was to coincide with Prime Minister Modi’s birthday – he turned 72 on Saturday – with Madhya Pradesh Prime Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and several Union ministers present on the platform for the unique event.
“Decades ago, the centuries-old bond of biodiversity broke and became extinct, today we have the opportunity to restore it”, PM Ways he said, adding: “Today the cheetah is back on the soil of India.”
It is very rare for an extinct species in one part of the world to be replaced by one species for another, especially an apex predator. The whole world had its eyes on the world’s first large wild carnivore intercontinental translocation project, a mission that took decades to dream and years to plan and process.
On the new arrivals sighted, Modi said: “We will have to show patience, wait a few months to see the cheetahs released in Kuno National Park. Today these cheetahs have come as guests and are unfamiliar with this area. In order for these cheetahs to make Kuno National Park their home, we will have to give them a few months. ”
