Cheetahs finally take a stride in India, after 70 long years

Gwalior, Sep 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday released eight Namibian Cheetah that were brought from Namibia at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The cheetah intercontinental translocation project is significant as it is taking place at a time when India has completed 75 years of its independence.

1. The eight cheetahs five females and three males are being brought from Namibia as part of 'Project Cheetah', the world's first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.
2. The release of wild cheetahs is part of PM Modi's efforts to revitalise and diversify India's wildlife and its habitat.
3. A viral video showed the crates carrying the cheetahs stacked in what was earlier the "economy" section of the Boeing aircraft.
4. After the plane landed at Gwalior, the ground personnel were seen helping transfer the crates, marked Live Animals, to the waiting choppers.
5. The aircraft, which took off from the African country Friday night, carried the cheetahs in the special wooden crates during the around 10-hour journey.
6. The cheetah disappeared from India due to excessive hunting and shrinking grasslands, its natural habitat.
7. 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.
8. The last cheetah was killed in Koriya district of Chhattisgarh in 1947 and it was declared extinct in 1952.
9. However, experts are divided over the re-introduction plan with some anticipating few problems but remaining optimistic, while others call the plan premature.
10. There are estimated to be only 7,100 cheetahs left in the wild.