Big Day! 12 cheetahs all set to arrive from South Africa today

The second batch of 12 cheetahs will be arriving from South Africa today. As reported earlier, the first group of 8 Namibian cheetahs arrived at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park on September 17 last year, under India’s Cheetah reintroduction program. With this, the total count of the big cats will go up to 20 in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.

Read More: What does cheetah reintroduction mean for Kuno National Park?
The seven male and five female cheetahs that are arriving today are the second tranche of big cats that is coming to Kuno, which used to be home to Asian cheetahs over 100 years ago.
Read More: Cheetah safari to be allowed from February at Kuno Palpur National Park

Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster Cargo plane will be used to bring the 12 cheetahs from South Africa, which landed at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport on Thursday evening. The plane took off late on Friday, informed an official.
State’s Head of Forest Force Ramesh Gupta revealed more on the same, adding that they will arrive in MP from South Africa at 11 AM today, and that CM Chouhan and Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav will later release them in quarantine enclosures.

Indian officials also added that the cheetahs have undergone extensive health check-ups and they are fit to be translocated.

The cheetahs that have been selected for translocation are from Phinda Game Reserve in Kwazulu Natal and Rooiberg Game Reserve in Limpopo Province.