A batch of eight cheetahs is scheduled to be translocated from Botswana to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) on February 28, officials said on Monday.
The move will take India’s total cheetah population to 46 as eight cubs were born at the KNP this month.
Botswana is the third African nation to send cheetahs to India as part of the Union Government’s Project Cheetah. Two batches of cheetahs have arrived from Namibia and South Africa since the project to reintroduce the species in India was kickstarted in September, 2022. Cheetahs officially went extinct in the country in 1952.
IAF transport
Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF - Wildlife) Subharanjan Sen told The Hindu that the cheetahs — six males and two females — will be brought in an Indian Air Force cargo plane to Gwalior Air Base on February 28.
