On Birthday, Indian PM Releases Cheetahs From Africa(Video)

On Birthday, Indian PM Releases Cheetahs From Africa(Video)

On Birthday, Indian PM Releases Cheetahs From Africa. 

  • India in the past was home to Asiatic cheetahs, but the species was declared extinct locally by 1952. They are only found in Iran now.
On Birthday, Indian PM Releases Cheetahs From Africa(Video)
Unsplash | Ahmed Galal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday is today and he released three of the eight cheetahs that arrived in India on Saturday, seventy years after their local extinction in India.

This is part of an ambitious project to reintroduce the big cats starting from Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.

“Project Cheetah, under which the cheetahs were reintroduced in the country after they became extinct seven decades ago, is our endeavor towards environment and wildlife conservation,” he said,

“21st century India is giving a message to the whole world that economy and ecology are not conflicting fields”, the prime minister added.

But Prime Minister Modi also said citizens will have to wait a few months before being able to spot these fastest land animals at Kuno.

“The citizens will have to show patience, wait for a few months to see the cheetahs released in the Kuno National Park. Today, these cheetahs have come as our guests, unaware of this area. We have to give a few months to these cheetahs too to make Kuno National Park their home,” he said.

On Birthday, Indian PM Releases Cheetahs From Africa(Video)
Unsplash | David Groves

NDTV reports that in kicking off his 72nd birthday, the PM released three cheetahs into the Kuno National Park. Sporting a fedora hat. The PM was also seen photographing the felines with a professional camera. He released two cheetahs from enclosure number one and after that, about 70 meters away, from the second enclosure released another one.

As a security measure, the Cheetahs have been fitted with Radio collars for live monitoring through satellite. According to the report, there is a dedicated monitoring team behind each cheetah that will monitor their movements around the clock.

No greater gift for Madhya Pradesh than this on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said this morning, calling the ‘historic’ ferrying of the wild cats from Namibia to the Kuno National Park the biggest wildlife incident of the century. This will rapidly boost tourism in the state, especially in the Kuno-Palpur region, he said.

According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), an international not-for-profit organization headquartered in Namibia and dedicated to saving the fastest land animal, the five female cheetahs are aged between two and five years, while the males are aged between 4.5 years and 5.5 years.

India in the past was home to Asiatic cheetahs, but the species was declared extinct domestically by 1952. The big cats are being brought to India from Namibia as part of an intercontinental translocation project.

Watch the video below courtesy of NDTV:

 


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