Sheopur- Madhya Pradesh: Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters carrying 12 cheetahs from South Africa reached at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district toay, February 28.

Around 10 am, an IAF plane carried these cats from South Africa to Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, where they were then taken to the Kuno National Park . 

The helicopters carrying cheetahs arrived at the Kuno National Park around noon. Seven males and five females make up this group of cheetahs, which is the second big cat population to enter the state after eight cheetahs from Namibia were released into the KNP on September 17 of last year during a ceremony officiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

These cheetas had embarked on a journey to their new home thousands of miles away aboard an Indian Air Force transport aircraft from the O R Tambo International Airport, Gauteng in South Africa shortly before midnight, a project participant and expert said

They will now be released into quarantine bomas by Madhya Pradesh  Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister for Environment and Forests Bhupender Yadav.

The cheetahs are being brought to India as part of the Cheetah Reintroduction project on the basis of the memorandum of understanding signed between the South African and the Indian governments.

The MoU facilitates support between the 2 countries to set up a viable and secure cheetah population in India; promotes conservation and makes cetain that expertise is shared and exchanged, and capacity is built, so as to promote cheetah conservation. This includes human-wildlife conflict resolution, capture and translocation of wildlife and community participation in conservation with India and South Africa.

MP Kuno National Park: 12 cheetahs to be translocated on Feb18