7-decade long wait ends today: India all set to welcome cheetahs

India’s long wait of seven decades to see cheetahs again has ended today as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the big cats into Kuno National Park on his 72nd birthday.

A special cargo Boeing 747 chartered flight carrying 8 cheetahs from Namibia landed at the Indian Air Force Station in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh today morning.

Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park is all set to welcome the eight new cheetahs relocated from Namibia after seven decades. PM Modi will release eight cheetahs (5 females and 3 males) brought from Namibia to the Kuno National Park as part of his efforts to revitalise and diversify the country's wildlife and habitat.

MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that reviving of an already extinct cat species is a historic step and it will boost tourism in the state."No greater gift for MP than the fact that the cheetahs from Namibia are coming to Kuno National Park. They had gone extinct and it's a historic step to reintroduce them. This is the biggest wildlife incident of this century. This will rapidly boost tourism in MP," CM Chouhan said.Earlier, SP Yadav, Project Cheetah chief, said that PM Modi will release two cheetahs from enclosure number one and after that about 70 meters away, at the second enclosure, the PM will release another cheetah.

The remaining cheetahs will be released in their respective quarantine areas made for them.Yadav said that cheetahs are being brought into the country from Namibia through a chartered cargo plane Boeing 747 which will land in India.

Under the ambitious Project Cheetah of the Indian government, the reintroduction of wild species particularly cheetah is being undertaken as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.India has a long history of wildlife conservation. One of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures 'Project Tiger', which was initiated way back in 1972, has not only contributed to the conservation of tigers but also of the entire ecosystem.In continuation of this, the reintroduction of cheetahs is one step ahead and a milestone in the history of wildlife conservation in India.