Boost to India’s Wildlife Diversity: PM Modi on Cheetahs in MP National Park

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 19th Feb. The arrival of 12 cheetahs from South Africa has increased India’s wildlife diversity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated on Sunday.

The 12 cheetahs arrived on Saturday and were released into quarantine enclosures at Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district, five months after the first batch of eight of these fastest land animals arrived from Namibia.

PM Modi tweeted, “India’s wildlife diversity receives a boost with this development,” tagging a tweet by Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav about Cheetahs arriving in Madhya Pradesh.

In his tweet, Yadav said on Saturday, “Welcome, Project Cheetah, launched under PM Shri @narendramodi ji’s leadership, reached another milestone today in Kuno National Park. Released 12 cheetahs in the presence of MP CM Shri @ChouhanShivraj and Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri @nstomar.”

Their transcontinental movement is part of the Indian government’s ambitious plan to reintroduce these animals into the country seven decades after they became extinct. The last cheetah in the country died in 1947 in the Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh, and the species was declared extinct in 1952.

With the addition of these 12 cheetahs, the KNP now has a total of 20 cheetahs. On September 17, last year, Prime Minister Modi released eight felines from Namibia into the KNP.

The Namibian cheetahs, five females and three males, are currently housed in hunting enclosures at the park before being released into the wild.