Darted & sedated, hydrated with drips: 12 South African Cheetahs flown to India, Watch
Mangalore Today News Network / News18
New Delhi, Feb 18, 2023: For the first time in history, twelve South African cheetahs are being flown to India and will join eight Namibian cheetahs in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on Saturday.
Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft is bringing the crated and sedated spotted felines to the country and will land at the Gwalior Air Force base at 10 am on Saturday, from where they will be taken to Kuno via helicopters.
For the first time in history, South Africa will be translocating 12 cheetahs to India as part of an initiative to expand the cheetah meta-population & to reintroduce the mammals in the country.#SACheetahstoIndia pic.twitter.com/HvKpEHUDBa
— Environmentza (@environmentza) February 17, 2023
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will release the cheetahs into their quarantine enclosures in the Kuno National Park, spread over 750 km in the state’s Chambal region, at 11 am.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment of South Africa shared videos of the transfer process.
The cheetahs will be darted & loaded into relocation crates. They will be hydrated with drips and their collar fittings will also be checked. DNA samples will also be taken for @SANBI_ZA. The cheetahs will be relocated to India’s Kuno National Park #SACheetahstoIndia pic.twitter.com/FkR27hRHX2
— Environmentza (@environmentza) February 17, 2023
The cheetahs were sedated and loaded into relocation crates. They were also hydrated with drips.
After all checks, the crates were taken to Tambo International Airport in South Africa where High Commissioner of India Jaideep Sarkar together with the Indian delegation arrived.
The 12 cheetahs were loaded onto the IAF’s Galaxy Globemaster C17 transport for their journey to India.
The relocation is part of an MoU signed by both countries for cooperation to establish a viable and secure cheetah population in India and promote conservation and community involvement in the two countries.
The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been completely wiped out from India, mainly due to overhunting and habitat loss. The last spotted feline died in 1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district.
According to the ‘Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India’ prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India, around 12-14 cheetahs that are ideal for establishing a new cheetah population would be imported from South Africa, Namibia and other African countries as a founder stock for five years initially and then as required by the programme.